'This should never have happened to Bryonny. She should still be here' — Family await HSE review
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The mother of a young woman whose death was ruled a result of medical misadventure has pledged to keep fighting on behalf of her daughter to prevent similar tragedies happening.
Alison Sainsbury’s 25-year-old daughter Bryonny suffered a serious brain injury after she was kicked in the head by a horse on August 26, 2021.
Ms Sainsbury, of Briskil, Newtownforbes, Co Longford, died from her injuries in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin five days later, after originally being treated at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar. An inquest into her death was finalised last month and a verdict of death by medical misadventure was returned.
In issuing her verdict, coroner Dr Crona Gallagher referenced concerns raised by Alison and her husband Chris about their daughter’s condition while in the Mullingar hospital, as well as querying why she had not been transferred to Beaumont sooner.
She also acknowledged that a consultant neurosurgeon from Beaumont had assessed scans taken of Ms Sainsbury as showing her condition was deteriorating.
Now, Bryonny’s family are waiting for the finalisation of a review into her death by the HSE, which the family expected to have been completed last April.
Alison says that the family received a letter on October 13, 2021, less than two months after Bryonny’s death, informing them that the review team was being put together. The team was completed in December 2022. The family had expected the review to be completed within 125 days.
The family had a meeting with the team on March 13 last year in a hotel in Mullingar and Alison Sainsbury says they were told they would receive a report within four weeks. However, they still have not received either a draft or a full report.
In recent weeks, the family received correspondence outlining that the draft report is to be provided to staff involved in the review shortly but the family have not been given any timeframe of when they can expect a copy of the report.
The devastated mother said: “They cannot keep treating families like this. There were supposed to be changes after the cervical cancer scandal but nothing has changed. This should never have happened to Bryonny. She should still be here.
"Bryonny was dying and we had to watch it. We begged them to move her and nothing was done.”
The Sainsburys have been told that they will be updated on the review progress next week but Alison says each update is generic.
She says: “It is not good enough. We have gone to our TDs, our solicitor writes to them (HSE) nearly every month. What more do they expect families to go through and what hoops do they expect families to jump through? It is disgusting.”
In a statement to the , a spokesman for the Ireland East Hospital Group said: “Regional Hospital Mullingar offer sincere condolences to the Sainsbury family on their devastating loss.
"The Ireland East Hospital Group has apologised to the family for the delay in completing the review of the care provided to Bryonny. This review is however now almost complete and the hospital hopes to share it with the family as quickly as possible. The hospital will continue to engage directly with the family’s representative in relation to the review.”