{"id":504796,"date":"2026-06-17T19:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504796\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T19:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:33:17","slug":"hospital-apologises-for-failings-in-care-of-woman-whose-death-was-linked-to-drug-side-effect-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504796\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital apologises for failings in care of woman whose death was linked to drug side effect \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hospital and a GP have apologised for shortcomings and failings in the care provided to a woman who died from a toxic side effect of a drug she was prescribed.<\/p>\n

Dymphna Dykes (68) died from multi-organ failure due to acute liver failure linked to her use of the drug Isoniazid.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Maher, counsel for the Dykes family, instructed by Cian O\u2019Carroll solicitors, told the High Court<\/a> that Dykes was put on the drug to treat her latent tuberculosis, and liver function tests were meant to be carried out monthly.<\/p>\n

If the tests had been carried out, he said, it would have been obvious that her liver had deteriorated and \u201cit could have been stopped in its tracks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dykes, he said, became acutely unwell six months after being put on the medication and was transferred to hospital but was not deemed a candidate for a liver transplant. She died of multi-organ failure on March 26th, 2021.<\/p>\n

The liver function tests for Dykes \u201cnever happened and she fell between the cracks\u201d, counsel said.<\/p>\n

The apologies were read out in court as Frederick Dykes, of Virginia Heights, Tallaght, Dublin, and his daughters, Aiveen Dykes and Kerena Turner, settled a High Court action against GP Siobh\u00e1n Kierans, who practised at Tallaght Medical Centre, Redwood View, Tallaght, and Tallaght University Hospital<\/a> over the death of their wife and mother.<\/p>\n

Counsel told the court that a breach of duty and causation had been admitted and the case was settled after mediation.<\/p>\n

In an apology read to the court, Tallaght University Hospital chief executive Barbara Keogh Dunne offered sincere condolences to the Dykes family.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Deaf-blind man in High Court seeking legal aid to pursue discrimination caseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a matter of deep regret that there were shortcomings in the care we provided to Dymphna which resulted in her death, and I wish to sincerely apologise for this. The hospital would like to acknowledge the ongoing sadness and distress this has caused your family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kierans, in a letter read to the court, offered her \u201cheartfelt apologies for the failings in my care that led to the death of your late wife and mother and for the distress suffered by your family\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI understand that this apology cannot negate the adverse effect the loss of your wife and mother has had on your lives, and I am truly sorry for same.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the proceedings it was claimed there was a failure by Kierans to treat Dykes in accordance with the standard of care expected of medical practitioners of reasonable competence and skill.<\/p>\n

Dykes\u2019 liver function, it was further claimed, had been permitted to deteriorate unchecked, resulting in her death.<\/p>\n

Against the hospital, it was claimed there was a failure as the instigator of the woman\u2019s course of Isoniazid to ensure monthly monitoring of Dykes\u2019 liver function occurred.<\/p>\n

There was also, it was claimed, a failure, despite reviewing Dykes on a number of occasions, to ensure the liver tests were carried out.<\/p>\n

It was contended there was a failure to undertake any liver function tests after prescribing the medication in August 2020 up to her admission into hospital in February 2021 with significant liver dysfunction.<\/p>\n

Noting the settlement and the division of the statutory \u20ac35,000 mental distress payments, Judge Denise Brett said it was undoubtedly a very tragic event and she conveyed her deepest condolences to the family.<\/p>\n

At an inquest into the death of Dykes, originally from Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, a verdict of medical misadventure was recorded last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hospital and a GP have apologised for shortcomings and failings in the care provided to a woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73,61,60,43,65959],"class_list":["post-504796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-tallaght-university-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}