Mullingar man wants inquiry into decision by Medical Council on deceased wife's complaint

Photo shows, the late Eileen Kenny.

The husband of a Westmeath woman who died after medics failed to spot the return of her tumour after treatment has gone public with his concerns over the Irish Medical Council’s response to the tragedy.

Eileen Kenny, a native of Rathconnell, was just 61 when she died, on December 13, 2016.

By that stage, she had won not just financial compensation over the lapses in the care afforded to her after treatment for cancer nine years earlier, but, more importantly, a written apology from the consultant involved.

What did not happen, however, was a Fitness to Practice investigation into the oncologist, despite Eileen’s request that this be undertaken by the Medical Council.

The Kenny family’s heartbreaking story was recounted in an RTÉ radio Doc on One production ‘A Fight To The End’, produced by Brian O’Connell, Donal O’Herlihy and Liam O’Brien and broadcast last weekend.

Eileen’s husband Jim, who is from Ballinea, is now calling for an independent inquiry into the Medical Council’s decision not to hold the investigation Eileen had sought.

“Following the High Court settlement Eileen was free to speak to the media outside the High Court. However, she felt that the Medical Council was the proper forum to obtain accountability and establish the truth to ensure that lessons were learned and that no other patient would ever go through a similar experience,” Jim told the Westmeath Examiner.

Jim admits that he feels the family was dealt an unlucky hand in life as they had earlier fought a major health battle when his and Eileen’s youngest daughter, Louise, became ill at age three and a half. Despite taking her to Canada twice for neurosurgery operations, she was left with lifelong care needs.

The first hint of Eileen’s own impending health struggles came in December 2007, when she appeared unable to shake off a high temperature she was running.

Fit, health-conscious – a keen tennis player in fact – Eileen, who was then 52, went to her GP, who referred her on for tests. These showed her to have a GIST (Gastro-Intestinal Stromal Tumour) in her stomach.

The treatment is usually surgery to remove the tumour and then growth inhibitors, and these were the steps prescribed for Eileen. The surgery was successful and Eileen’s oncologist put her on chemotherapy in tablet form for a year.

But what Eileen and Jim did not know at the time was that this particular cancer should be monitored very closely as there is a high risk of recurrence.

Dr Ramesh Bulusu, a UK expert on GIST, told the documentary team that post-treatment, there should be three-monthly scans for two years; six-monthly scans for two more years then once-yearly scans. Starkly, he stated that there is a 55 per cent chance of relapse.

This schedule of scanning follow-ups was not followed in Eileen’s case.

In February 2009, Eileen received a scan. Her therapy was completed and she got on with her life, taking up tennis again, going on a family holiday.

A year later, on February 26, 2010, Eileen had a further scan. However, it wasn’t until February 15, 2012 that Eileen had her next scan – a gap of almost two years.

“As I understand it, one year out from the end of therapy and two years out from the end of your surgery is when it is most likely to recur,” Jim says of the type of cancer that Eileen had.

One day in 2011, Eileen awoke with severe pains in her left side. But she thought they might be due to her exertions at tennis.

The pains persisted and in November of that year, she was referred to the emergency department of her local hospital. There it emerged that her heart was healthy, but the cardiologist wrote to Eileen’s oncologist, suggesting that a catscan due to be conducted a number of months into the future be brought forward immediately.

This suggestion was not acted upon and Eileen had to wait until February 15, 2012 for that scan and another five weeks, to March 22, to see her oncologist. Given the apparent lack of haste, Eileen concluded there was nothing major amiss.

The RTÉ documentary reported that there were different views on what happened at that March 22, 2012 meeting.

The oncologist said he informed Eileen that her cancer had returned. She, however, claimed she was told there was “a little prominence” where the surgery had been performed. But as far as she was concerned, at no stage during that meeting was she informed the cancer had returned.

Unaware that she had a new tumour, Eileen endured a deterioration in health during 2012. In September, she had a further scan and was informed she had a tumour, and that a difficulty in treating it related to where it was located.

Eileen’s treatment was due to begin on October 19, but in the interim, she discovered a lump on her rib cage. She contacted her general practitioner and he informed her that as far back as May 2012, he had received a letter from the oncologist stating that there was “a possibility” that Eileen’s cancer had returned.

Eileen decided to seek a second opinion. When she collected her medical files to give to the second specialist, she opened the envelope and found the results of the February 2012 CT scan. It turned out that that scan had indicated that she had extensive recurrence.

Eileen, who was always very health-conscious, knew the implications of what she had read. In fact, a friend stated on the documentary, “she knew she was finished”.

The fact that in the eight months between February and September 2012, Eileen received no targeted treatment is understood to have significantly affected her chances of recovery or survival.