![\"Front](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1c8da922-3a8e-40ce-8891-9fce3a7af0b1.jpg\")
The Temple Street hospital in Dublin, where Chloe Maher was a patientAlamy<\/p>\nA young woman has died as a result of medical complications because she did not have scoliosis surgery when she was a child, marking a devastating escalation in what campaigners describe as failures in children\u2019s healthcare.<\/p>\n
Chloe Maher, 23, from Coolock in Dublin, died on March 4 in Beaumont Hospital. She is among a group of scoliosis patients who did not receive timely surgical interventions from Children\u2019s Health Ireland (CHI) before they \u201caged out\u201d into adult care. Many are now suffering from chronic issues, such as respiratory distress.<\/p>\n
Orla Maher, Chloe\u2019s aunt, told The Sunday Times that her niece\u2019s death had destroyed their family.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are heartbroken. Chloe couldn\u2019t speak but she was always smiling. She brightened up entire rooms. A big piece of our family is now sadly gone,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChloe\u2019s death was entirely preventable. She died in pain. People born with scoliosis are being let down by the government. They are left until it\u2019s too late to operate and then they vanish from the system because they age out of child care services and into adult care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chloe was a patient in Temple Street but never operated on. \u201cThey talked about surgery and then she aged out. My mom and Niamh [Chloe\u2019s mother] would call and ask for updates but got nowhere,\u201d Maher added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she was 20, Chloe was given a pre-operation assessment at the Mater hospital but then joined a waiting list where her condition deteriorated and her ability to breathe was eventually compromised.\u00a0Before Chloe died, her family were told she could not be intubated because the curvature of her spine had made performing the procedure too dangerous. Her family say she was in chronic pain.<\/p>\n
The Temple Street hospital in Dublin, where Chloe Maher was a patientAlamy<\/p>\n
\u201cChloe never cried but we could tell she was in pain. She was admitted to hospital for a few weeks and then sent home. She was re-admitted a week later and we were told she would not be going home. She died that night,\u201d Maher said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scoliosis, when left untreated during a child\u2019s growth, is not a static condition but worsens with time<\/a> and can lead to fatal complications in adulthood.\u00a0Clinical experts warn that once a spinal curve exceeds 50 degrees, it moves from a physical deformity to a respiratory threat because as the spine twists, the ribcage rotates, crushing a victim\u2019s internal organs and restricting the lungs\u2019 expansion.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s disclosure is likely to once again focus public anger on the government\u2019s failure to provide timely surgery to children, teenagers and young adults who require scoliosis surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite repeated promises from former health ministers, including Simon Harris<\/a> who promised in 2017 that no child would be left waiting for scoliosis surgery, the reality on the ground remains a landscape of cancelled appointments and bureaucratic hold-ups.<\/p>\n Campaigners say dozens of children\u2019s lives have been ruined or cut short because they did not receive surgery within the clinical window of opportunity.<\/p>\n Gillian Sherratt, whose son Harvey Morrison died<\/a> aged nine after his name was cut from a surgical waiting list<\/a> without his parents\u2019 knowledge, said Chloe was unlikely to be the last person to die because they did not receive timely care.<\/p>\n \u201cHarvey was a unique boy but his case was not unique. Young people who never got surgery when they were children are now running into serious health issues that could have been prevented,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are going to see more deaths. These people should have been given operations when they were children.\u201d<\/p>\n Campaigners say at least five other young \u00adchildren died because they did not receive timely spinal surgery or due to post-operative infections and complications.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Gillian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c66fa8d4-7da8-4a7a-9910-24a91d5863be.jpg\")
The death of Gillian Sherratt and Stephen Morrison\u2019s son Harvey provoked anger and scrutiny of CHIBryan Meade for the Sunday times<\/p>\n