Dozens of families are suing the HSE after their loved ones contracted Covid-19 and died in various healthcare settings.
The claims are based on deaths of individuals that occurred in hospitals, community health units and private nursing homes according to the State Claims Agency (SCA). One such claim relates to the death of a worker in the healthcare sector.
According to the Independent.ie, the vast majority of the claims – 33 out of 39 – relate to private nursing homes.
However, even in these cases, the HSE has been proposed as a defendant.
“The HSE has an overriding duty to intervene in circumstances where a private home is unable to meet the care needs of its residents,” said Enda McGarrity of law firm PA Duffy, as reported in the Independent.
“We are aware of a number of circumstances during the pandemic where the HSE were asked to intervene in the early stages of Covid-19 outbreaks but failed to do so in a timely or effective manner. This presented an opportunity for early and decisive action to prevent further deaths, which was regrettably missed.”
In May of last year, it was reported that 56% of people who died with Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland contracted the virus in either a hospital or a nursing home.
According to Peadar Toibín TD, many elderly people went into hospital with a relatively minor injury or illness, but contracted Covid-19 in a care setting and died.
“We all know of someone, perhaps an elderly person who presented to hospital after a fall or minor illness, only to contract Covid-19 and die while in hospital,” said Toibín.
“There are 750 such people, and may they rest in peace. The government and HSE have serious questions to answer about these deaths.”
Additionally, in February of 2021, at the start of Ireland’s vaccine rollout, a mere 10% of vaccinations administered by the HSE had gone to nursing home residents, with the vast majority of the remainder going to healthcare staff. Nursing Homes Ireland called this a huge “missed window of opportunity.”