Méadhbh McGivern (14), and her dad on Morning Ireland

Dionysus

Surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be a thread on this yet, despite it being all over the news. Anyway, this morning while driving into work I couldn't help but be moved by Méadhbh's father, Joe McGivern, talking about his despair and anger over the state not being able to provide transport to get her to London quick enough for her liver transplant.

It was powerful stuff, especially when the father was saying that had he known transport couldn't be made available for his child he would have sold everything he had to secure private transport for "my child" to get there. He was really fighting for his child and appealing to public opinion to ensure this never happened again.

Cathal Mac Coille interviews Joe McGivern (Morning Ireland)

Leitrim girl has liver transplant cancelled

Minister apologises for transplant confusion

Inquiry over missed transplant

If the state doesn't have enough planes, then maybe wealthy people in Ireland could allow their planes to go on a register for such emergencies. It seems terribly unfair to this child that when a solution to her problem arises our government can't provide the necessary transport and she continues to suffer as a direct result.

Zebra3

Let's get one thing straight.

This is Ireland.

We have our priorities right.

Vile pensions for scum like Ahern and Co. we can afford.

Helping ordinary kids? Why bother?

:rolleyes:

El Siglo

It sickens me to think that we used to pay for Harney et al. to be ferried around by the Air Corps, yet when it comes to the life of a child... Fuck sake, it's sickening so it is. It's one thing to treat us like crap, tax us to pay for Anglo et al., to cut services, to pay extortionate bonuses to incompetent bankers and senior civil servants and RTÉ, but this shit just takes the biscuit.

mikemac

Why are Ahern and Harney even getting mentioned in the thread?


The Air Corps were engaged

An Air Corps helicopter was already engaged in transferring a spinal injury patient

And this private company failed to coordinate with the Coastguard until it was too late

The air transfer was co-ordinated by a private company, Emergency Medical Support Services, contracted by Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin.

naughtysmurf

It was a disgrace!!!!

Along with the way the previous government treated young CF patients / sufferers

If anything happens like that again, heads should roll.

spank_inferno

Agree with Mike.... the blame here should go to the private company who are supposed to manage and co-ordiate these events (extra ordinary though they are)

El Siglo

mikemac wrote: »

Why are Ahern and Harney even getting mentioned in the thread?

Because cunts like them were transported willy nilly at the expense of the tax payer, when someone deserving needed transport there was nothing available.

The Air Corps were engaged

They wouldn't by any chance have a second helicopter or airplane to spare? Even the Gulf Stream they have for the president? Any all resources should have been made available.

And this private company failed to coordinate with the Coastguard until it was too late

This is what happens when you get "hollowing out" of public services.

Bloody Nipples

In the examiner today, it was mentioned they were offered a jet to replace the helicopter, but this was turned down for some reason.

It said a plane would have been available at Baldonnel air base at 10.30pm but this offer was declined, although the reason is not known.

The plane on offer was a G4, a fast-flying jet which it is understood could have flown from Baldonnel to Sligo and on to Heathrow in time. Alternatively, the McGiverns could have driven to Baldonnel. Mr McGivern said he had timed the journey by road to Dublin Airport — further away from Baldonnel — at two and a half hours.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/parents-why-did-delay-cost-maedhbh-her-transplant-159921.html#ixzz1RB78ZSLX

In fairness it looks like the company dropped the ball here in a big way. No fault of the government.

admiralofthefleet

that fat cunt harney can get a helicopter to go open an off licence but a girl depending on one for her life cant. this country sickens me

mikemac

Emergency Medical Support Services
21 Northumberland Avenue
Dun Laoghaire
Co. Dublin

Private sector contractor messes up

I wonder could putting the operation back under military control with the Air Corps be more efficient.
Instead of dealing with different contractors. And contractors aren't cheap, it might even save money!

But hey lets rant about Mary Harney instead

SarahBeep!

I heard him on TV3's midday, he just seemsed so upset that he'd let his daughter down (even though HE wasn't the one who let her down) :(:(

TheZohanS

We don't know all the facts yet, we don't k ow all the facts yet.

Bloody Nipples

Why was she going to London for a transplant can anyone tell me? St. Vincents do liver transplants and I'd have thought UK citizens would have priority for organs sourced from British donors.

SarahBeep!

Bloody Nipples wrote: »

Why was she going to London for a transplant can anyone tell me? St. Vincents do liver transplants and I'd have thought UK citizens would have priority for organs sourced from British donors.

Ireland has no Peadeatric Transplant Ward

westendgirlie

The poor girl. To be so close after waiting 11 months and her chance taken away over stupid administrative errors. I don't really pray but I will for her to get another chance

G_R

I love a good Government Bashing just as much as the next guy but it seems that there was no Government fault in this case, so hows about everyone stops jumping on the "Ah the Government is bad, Mary Harney is fat" band wagon. I mean Harney isn't even a TD anymore ffs.

It was the fault of a private company. And can anyone here really tell me that they believe that every possible avenue wasn't explored by the AC to get this poor girl to the UK in time?

washman3

A very simple question for the apologists among us that cant stand bertie bashing,harney bashing and government criticism.

If this was Berties,Harneys,Kennys,Gilmores even Healy-Raes daughter, would this have happened??


END OF STORY..!!!

Stinicker

If it were my child or even myself I'd have relocated to as near to the Hospital as possible and not be living in the back end of nowhere. I understand there is a window of opportunity that these people obviously missed however I do think that people need to also give themselves the best possible shot at it and ask yourself this, would you feel comfortable if you were depending on the Government for something so important? Knowing their perfect track record at making sure things go wrong.

Chorcai

SarahBeep! wrote: »

Ireland has no Peadeatric Transplant Ward

0_o is Ireland a 1st or 3rd world country sometimes I wonder.

bleg

Didn't Mary have one of the aircraft in Monaco?

Bosco boy

It seems the aircraft that would normally be available was being used to assist a spinal patient at the time, the private company obviously couldn't work around this problem in a timely manner, lessons to be learned, when these situations arise it's normally the complete opposite and the efforts to get the person to the hospital are fantastic, I'm sure who ever messed up is pretty upset themselves, why do we have to have their head on a plate! The organ has saved someones elses life lets hope this girl gets her organ asap. Spare a thought for the donor and their family.

The_Minister

washman3 wrote: »

A very simple question for the apologists among us that cant stand bertie bashing,harney bashing and government criticism.

If this was Berties,Harneys,Kennys,Gilmores even Healy-Raes daughter, would this have happened??


END OF STORY..!!!

YES IT WOULD HAVE!

The Government Jet was made available to the HSE and was turned down, assumadly because they thought they had other options.

This was not a cost issue, this was an administrative mess-up.

bleg

The surgeon could have organised for RAF transport if he'd known in time.

iguana

Were King's able to reallocate the liver? If so at least somebody's life was saved, tragic as it is for the McGiverns. Organs are in such short supply I really hope someone got the use of it, as the waste of a donated organ would be an even bigger tragedy. Not to wish death on some other person but hopefully a liver will become available in time for Maedbh and this time she will be able to avail of it.

People should also use this story as a reminder to make sure they impress upon their next-of-kin that they would like to be an organ donor.

7sr2z3fely84g5

Grand_Rajnah wrote: »

I love a good Government Bashing just as much as the next guy but it seems that there was no Government fault in this case, so hows about everyone stops jumping on the "Ah the Government is bad, Mary Harney is fat" band wagon. I mean Harney isn't even a TD anymore ffs.

Correct,but the massive pensions thats being paid to them for a country thats very broke is shameful.

Listed here,like winning the lotto!- http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/tds-and-senators-hand-us-bill-of-euro14m-for-their-golden-handshake-2811878.html

maglite

Jet 1 in Morocco with the president for wedding.
Aer Corp Air Ambulance in use.
Second Jet not immediately available.

Coast Guard Helicopters in use and Sligo's became available later.
Unsure what happened with the private Jet or why one was not sourced out of country. But at that hour things are't the easiest to arrange.

An unfortunate admin feck up. But its hardly the fault of this or the previous governments. We can only afford so many resources, indeed we only have the need for a quantity we can staff resources based on freak demand. You cant plan for every eventuality the main thing is lessons are learnt and hopefully this wont happen again.

A 2? hour window is't that much time to get form Letrim to London given what needs to happen.

Einhard

I remember seeing a report on the news a while ago about a new private air ambulance service, operating out of Baldonnell I think, and with all medical support and equipment on hand. It was envisaged that it would be used to transport patients home from abroad, but surely it could have been used in this instance?

Obviously a major cock up somewhere here, but the default mode of some posters of attacking the government, or the previous one, or even calling Mary Harney fat (seriously wtf??) gets a bit tiresome after a while. Yes, it's quite possible that this, or the previous government, could have done more, or that the system could have been more efficent, but some of the reaction here is akin to foaming at the mouth-type ranting.

Paddy De Plasterer

I believe the gov jet was away with that useless President McAleese at that wedding of that useless git Grimaldi in Monaco, who seems to have more children turning up every day, but wants his lovely new wife to bear him an heir for the throne !

Ballinamore is only 20 miles from Enniskillen, why did they not go there and RAF would have flown them over. Or maybe Leitrim people have a problem with that.

Hal Emmerich

naughtysmurf wrote: »

It was a disgrace!!!!

Along with the way the previous government treated young CF patients / sufferers

If anything happens like that again, heads should roll.

NO, once was enough, heads should roll NOW.

maglite wrote: »

Jet 1 in Morocco with the president for wedding.
Aer Corp Air Ambulance in use.
Second Jet not immediately available.

Coast Guard Helicopters in use and Sligo's became available later.
Unsure what happened with the private Jet or why one was not sourced out of country. But at that hour things are't the easiest to arrange.

An unfortunate admin feck up. But its hardly the fault of this or the previous governments. We can only afford so many resources, indeed we only have the need for a quantity we can staff resources based on freak demand. You cant plan for every eventuality the main thing is lessons are learnt and hopefully this wont happen again.

A 2? hour window is't that much time to get form Letrim to London given what needs to happen.

I'm pretty sure the liver was good for 8 hours but by the time a plane was secured the 4 Hour flight over (that seems awful slow to me) would have put them over that time limit at 2am Monday Morning.

Vorsprung

Chorcai wrote: »

0_o is Ireland a 1st or 3rd world country sometimes I wonder.

We don't have enough kids in Ireland who need transplant to justify a unit. It's better that they get their pre-transplant work-up in Ireland and get the transplant surgery/care in a centre where they do a lot of it.

skelliser

To clarify the goverment jet was availible.

it arrived into baldonnel at 10.30 with the president returning from monaco.

The air corp offered the use of the jet.
Someone in the HSE made a decision not to use it.

If it had they would have been in london at 12 midnight.

surely whom ever in the HSE who made this decision should be fired but alas being in the public service
there will be a "inquiry" that will last weeks/months where they will find out there was a "systems failure"
no one will be held to account.

later12

skelliser wrote: »

To clarify the goverment jet was availible.

it arrived into baldonnel at 10.30 with the president returning from monaco.

The air corp offered the use of the jet.
Someone in the HSE made a decision not to use it.
.

In fairness, there seems to be some dispute surrounding this. I'm not sure any of us are on a position to know who is to blame.

Bloody Nipples

skelliser wrote: »

To clarify the goverment jet was availible.

it arrived into baldonnel at 10.30 with the president returning from monaco.

The air corp offered the use of the jet.
Someone in the HSE made a decision not to use it.

If it had they would have been in london at 12 midnight.

surely whom ever in the HSE who made this decision should be fired but alas being in the public service
there will be a "inquiry" that will last weeks/months where they will find out there was a "systems failure"
no one will be held to account.

It wasn't someone in the HSE, it was someone in this EMSS company that had been contracted to coordinate transport for transplant patients.

mgmt

To be fair the family could have used a bit of common sense too. They could have easily have gotten on a commercial flight leaving Shannon, Dublin, Knock, Belfast to London. Given a once in a lifetime opportunity they should have made contingency arrangements.

_feedback_

maglite wrote: »

Coast Guard Helicopters in use and Sligo's became available later.

Her Dad said yesterday that the lads in Sligo said they had been there all the time, but were only asked at the last minute.

Her Dad is due on Ray Darcys show in a couple of minutes. .

BlaasForRafa

mgmt wrote: »

To be fair the family could have used a bit of common sense too. They could have easily have gotten on a commercial flight leaving Shannon, Dublin, Knock, Belfast to London. Given a once in a lifetime opportunity they should have made contingency arrangements.

Possibly. But she may have had special medical needs (I don't know, I'm just speculating) that might not have been able to be accomodated by a normal commercial flight.

Apanachi

iguana wrote: »

Were King's able to reallocate the liver? If so at least somebody's life was saved, tragic as it is for the McGiverns.

Yes, it was the recipient is doing well, happy for that person, sad for Méadhbh. Hope she gets her donor liver soon.

As for Government bashing, true in this case the Governemt wasn't at fault, but why the f*ck does Ireland not have a Peadeatric Transplant Ward - that is surely the fault of the Government

mgmt wrote: »

To be fair the family could have used a bit of common sense too. They could have easily have gotten on a commercial flight leaving Shannon, Dublin, Knock, Belfast to London. Given a once in a lifetime opportunity they should have made contingency arrangements.

I don't think there was a enough time (but not too sure on this)

who the fug

Vorsprung wrote: »

We don't have enough kids in Ireland who need transplant to justify a unit. It's better that they get their pre-transplant work-up in Ireland and get the transplant surgery/care in a centre where they do a lot of it.

What this poster has said.

In the UK there are moves to close some specialized units and re allocate the staff because there are not enough trained staff and equipment to provide an acceptable standard of care

Ireland piggy backing on to the UK is a better use of resources for both countries

Donny5

Chorcai wrote: »

0_o is Ireland a 1st or 3rd world country sometimes I wonder.

Third world, of course, since we're neutral. We've never been anything else.

El Siglo

It's funny how nobody is really held accountable for this cock-up? The Department of Health isn't responsible because the role for health care provision is carried out by the HSE. The HSE isn't responsible because the transport coordination is carried out by this EMSS. No doubt the head of EMSS isn't responsible as it's someone else's job in their company etc... etc... etc... It's like one of those Russian matryoshka dolls, just layers and layers of incompetence and ineptitude. Nobody has the balls of taking responsibility for any action or inaction, and now look what we get?

SarahBeep!

Enzo Great Temperance wrote: »

Correct,but the massive pensions thats being paid to them for a country thats very broke is shameful.

Listed here,like winning the lotto!- http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/tds-and-senators-hand-us-bill-of-euro14m-for-their-golden-handshake-2811878.html

LET IT GO!! STOP TAKING THE ATTENTION AWAY FROM THIS SICK LITTLE GIRL!!
NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT!!

maglite wrote: »

A 2? hour window is't that much time to get form Letrim to London given what needs to happen.

They got the call at 8pm(ish) but just when they were about to get on the aircraft at 23.30(ish) they were told to stand down because they wouldn't make it in time and the liver was to go to the next available patient.

sensibleken

This is rediculous.

How many ways do you need to spell Maeve? Medb, Méadhbh, Meitheamh, moooo!

political correctness and/or lisbon treaty gone mad i say!

MadameGascar

Grand_Rajnah wrote: »

so hows about everyone stops jumping on the "Ah the Government is bad, Mary Harney is fat" band wagon. I mean Harney isn't even a TD anymore ffs.

Yeah, but she's still fat!:)

SEPT 23 1989

If that was my daughter waiting for a transplant in London i would be living in London waiting for that phonecall not in Sligo

Stench Blossoms

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

If that was my daughter waiting for a transplant in London i would be living in London waiting for that phonecall not in Sligo

Exactly.

If she's that high up on the list she should be waiting in London.

Chucky the tree

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

If that was my daughter waiting for a transplant in London i would be living in London waiting for that phonecall not in Sligo

How would you pay for this stay in London 9 months while not working? Also would you be happy taking your daughter away from all her family and friends for an unknown length of time? I suppose **** keeping her in school and letting her have a normal teenage life as well. :rolleyes:

Bloody Nipples

Donny5 wrote: »

Third world, of course, since we're neutral. We've never been anything else.

I think that'll go over a lot of heads :P

Though we're actually a first world country. It's decided on economic rather than military alignment.

cynder

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

If that was my daughter waiting for a transplant in London i would be living in London waiting for that phonecall not in Sligo

Easier said than done.

SarahBeep!

Chucky the tree wrote: »

How would you pay for this stay in London 9 months while not working? Also would you be happy taking your daughter away from all her family and friends for an unknown length of time? I suppose **** keeping her in school and letting her have a normal teenage life as well. :rolleyes:

She hasn't been in school since January, so I highly doubt she'd be able to handle a move to London

cynder

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Exactly.

If she's that high up on the list she should be waiting in London.

If she is high up on the list it means she has only a year left to live, maybe less. There is a chance a liver that matches wont appear.

The question really should be is why doesn't Ireland cater for children who need transplants?

Chucky the tree

SarahBeep! wrote: »

She hasn't been in school since January, so I highly doubt she'd be able to handle a move to London

Didn't realise she's been out of school since then.