{"id":124644,"date":"2025-10-15T23:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T23:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/124644\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T23:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T23:18:08","slug":"pregnant-womans-family-feel-haunted-by-delay-in-sepsis-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/124644\/","title":{"rendered":"Pregnant woman’s family feel \u2018haunted\u2019 by delay in sepsis treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

An inquest into the death of a woman at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after a miscarriage has heard her family are \u201chaunted\u201d by fears suspected sepsis<\/a>\u00a0 was not quickly acted upon.<\/p>\n

Sobs echoed through Kilmallock Courthouse on Wednesday as Leona Cusack\u2019s husband and relatives listened to details of her death on February 18, 2024.<\/p>\n

Coroner John McNamara heard evidence from the family, healthcare workers at University Maternity Hospital Limerick, and UHL.<\/p>\n

Ms Cusack, aged 33, from Ballycasey in Shannon, Co Clare, was just over five weeks pregnant following IVF when she came to the maternity hospital in the early hours of February 15.<\/p>\n

Her husband Conor told the court she was very unwell. She was given tests \u2014 including two ECGs to check her heart.<\/p>\n

He said she was told to return to the hospital on February 17, but the hospital later asked them to return on February 16 for further tests.<\/p>\n

The couple thought Ms Cusack was to be admitted that day. However, he said they overheard discussion about bed shortages and were told they could leave.<\/p>\n

Suhaib Akhtar Birmani, at University Maternity Hospital Limerick, said he was concerned about possibilities including ectopic pregnancy and sepsis.<\/p>\n

Dr Birmani He asked for a sepsis protocol to be started. The court heard Ms Cusack was not given a broad spectrum antibiotic that day. He recommended she be admitted.<\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of Leona Cusack’s family attending the Coroners Court in Kilmallock Co Limerick. The inquest continues tomorrow, Thursday. Picture; Brendan Gleeson<\/p>\n

When solicitor for the family Damien Tansey queried this, he said he had not changed his request. He said: \u201cI thought she was in the hospital, she is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple returned to the maternity hospital very early on Saturday, September 17.<\/p>\n

Ms Cusack was transferred by ambulance later that morning to UHL due to concerns about her heart and following consultation with the UHL cardiology unit. It was later confirmed at UHL she had also suffered a miscarriage.<\/p>\n

Mr Tansey asked Dr Birmani about sepsis, saying: \u201cIt is haunting the family.\u201d He added:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n There were clear indications of sepsis and cardiac issues but, when she went to University Hospital Limerick, the sepsis was forgotten about. This is what led to her death, the sepsis was not treated properly.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

Ms Cusack\u2019s sister, Rachael Kirwin, said she is an advanced nurse practitioner in Scotland. She was home for their father\u2019s 60th birthday.<\/p>\n

She recalled being told by UHL consultant cardiologist Cormac O\u2019 Connor that her sister\u2019s heart was \u201cas strong as a lion\u201d, and that her sister could shadowbox in the hospital room.<\/p>\n

Medical witnesses gave evidence a broad spectrum antibiotic was not given until 4pm on February 17.<\/p>\n

The court heard that Ms Cusack was transferred to the intensive care unit in UHL. She was brought to theatre for a procedure. Theatre nurse Sara Khankashi gave evidence of efforts to save Ms Cusack\u2019s life but, despite this, Ms Cusack died.<\/p>\n

The inquest is to continue on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An inquest into the death of a woman at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after a miscarriage has heard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4488,9,10,27,18,13,14,6,135,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,12000],"class_list":{"0":"post-124644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-irish-examiner-instagram","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories","26":"tag-womens-health"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}