A €710,000 prescription error compensation settlement has been agreed between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and a 69-year-old woman, Mary Moss, who suffered a major stroke after she was discharged from a hospital without her blood thinning medication.
In addition to the €710,000 settlement, which was approved at the High Court, yearly care for the rest of her life in the region of €250,000 a year will also be made available. The HSe also issued an apology which was read out in the High Court.
The HSE said sorry to Ms Moss and her family, through a court statement, for all “shortcomings” that took place during the treatment she received at Sligo University Hospital. They said they regretted the huge upheaval that this has caused to the life of Ms Moss and her family.
Des O’Neill SC, legal representative for Ms Moss, advised the Judge that she had suffered a stroke in 2010 but had recovered from this. However, in February 2018 she had suffered another ‘episode’ and her anti-thinning medication was changed in hospital. However, this new medication was not included in the prescription that she was given upon discharge. This mistake went unrecognised she experienced a stroke six weeks later having left without her prescribed anticoagulants. Mrs Moss is now disabled.
Ms Moss is currently recovering at the National Rehabilitation Hospital and her family hope to bring her home to Ballymote, Co Sligo, as soon as they can. Her daughter Leanne Moss, speaking outside court, that she was happy to know that everything her mother needs will paid. She said that this would help her family hugely as her mother is confined to a wheelchair suffering from left side paralysis since the stroke.
Roger Murray, solicitor for the Moss family said: “Thanks to a successful mediation, the family can now concentrate on getting the best possible care for their mother, and moving her home to the west where she is happiest.”