Molly Cuddihy, who received cancer treatment at the QUEH in Glasgow, died on Tuesday.
09:51, 28 Aug 2025Updated 10:19, 28 Aug 2025
Molly, seen here getting straight As in her Highers, at the age of 17(Image: Daily Record)
Prosecutors have launched an investigation after the death of a woman seven years after she became seriously ill with a hospital acquired infection as a teenager.
Molly Cuddihy died on Tuesday at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, reports BBC Scotland.
In 2018 she developed septic shock while receiving cancer treatment at the same hospital campus, which is now at the centre of a public inquiry into safety issues.
It is understood that her death has been reported to prosecutors by doctors after she was admitted again last month and developed another hospital-acquired infection.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have confirmed that her death is being investigated.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has expressed its “deepest condolences” to Ms Cuddihy’s family.
Molly in hospital over five years ago(Image: Teenage Cancer Trust)
A COPFS spokesman said: “The Procurator Fiscal has received a report on the death of a 23-year-old woman in Glasgow on 26 August 2025.
“An investigation into the death is ongoing and significant developments will be shared with the family throughout the investigation.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “Our deepest condolences are with the family of Molly Cuddihy during this extremely difficult time.
“To respect patient confidentiality we are unable to provide further comment.”
The construction of the QEUH campus, which includes the Royal Hospital for Children, is currently being investigated by the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry after a wake of deaths linked to infections, including that of 10-year-old Milly Main.
In 2021, Molly Cuddihy, then aged 19, gave evidence to the inquiry. She was told she had metastatic Ewing’s sarcoma when she was 15-years-old and told the inquiry she experienced “frightening” fits that were linked to a hospital acquired infection.
Between January 2018 and 2020, she was cared for at the hospital and was fitted with a line for treatment.
Not long into her chemotherapy, Ms Cuddihy said her body went into septic shock – a life-threatening condition that happens when your blood pressure drops to a dangerously low level after an infection.
She was soon diagnosed with mycobacterium chelonae, an infection in her line that she later discovered came from the hospital environment – air or water-borne – and that had probably caused her temperature spikes and fits.
Ms Cuddihy said she had to take a “very strong” course of antibiotics she likened to bleach to treat the infection.
TSB Community Hero award winner Molly Cuddihy (bottom right) with fellow winner Sara Millar and presenters Doon Mackichan and Kieron Achara MBE
She told the inquiry: “The medication had horrible side-effects. I thought chemo was bad, but this was something else.
“I got a prolonged QT interval with my heart. This is when my heart pumps out the blood, but then doesn’t fill up fast enough, so I would often collapse.”
She said the doctors and nurses were just as much in the dark as she was about where the infection came from.
Ms Cuddihy told the inquiry: “I was made sicker by the environment.”
During her life, Molly Cuddihy worked to help other young patients – launching the Every Thank You Counts campaign and raised £300,000.
She won a Pride of Scotland award for her efforts alongside her friend Sara Miller in 2024.
Her family paid tribute to her in a statement released to the BBC. They said: “It is with broken hearts that we share the passing of our beloved daughter Molly.
“She was a special soul who brought light, love, and kindness into the lives of so many around her.
“What we will always treasure is the way she touched others; often without ever realising just how truly extraordinary she was.”
They added: “We are devastated by her loss and struggling to comprehend a world without her gentle presence.
“To us, she will forever be our precious girl: deeply loved, irreplaceable, and always remembered.”
The construction of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh is also being investigated by the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry.
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