The heartbroken parents of a ten-year-old girl who died after a series of operations at Temple Street Children’s Hospital have said “All we want are all of the answers."
Dollceanna Carter from Trim, Co Meath had Spina Bifida and scoliosis and died on September 29 last year following multiple procedures
Her case is part of an external review of 19 children treated at Temple Street announced this week by the HSE involving the surgeon at the centre of the review.
The HSE has described the case as a "serious surgical incident" which is the subject of a Serious Incident Investigation Review in progress since last month.
This is despite Dollceanna’s heartbroken parents Michael and Bridget being told she died from sepsis after contracting the MRSA bug following a number of operations from May to September last year.
Last month Dollceanna’s inquest was held where Michael and Bridget were informed she passed away from sepsis.
“We didn’t know she died from sepsis until her post mortem last month,” Michael said, speaking to the Irish Mirror.
“We knew there was an investigation but at the time we didn’t know what it meant,” said Bridget.
“All we want are the answers,” they both said, adding Dollceanna had a normal childhood, despite being wheelchair bound.
“She was always out playing with her friends, in and out of our neighbour’s homes, she was never sick in her ten years,” said Michael, adding Dollceanna was a TikTok diva who was also smart, considerate, and had an answer for everything.
Dollceanna, whose first anniversary of her death is next week, Friday, September 29 first went into Temple Street Children’s Hospital in May 2022 for a scoliosis operation which both Michael and Bridget said ‘went well.’
Two weeks later she was discharged from hospital and sent home. However, Bridget and Michael said Dollceanna was readmitted to hospital two weeks later with the MRSA bug.
“We know now she didn’t need the operation and if she didn’t have it she would be outside now playing away with her friends.
“We also want to know if our child is one of the children who had the springs put in. There is so much we haven’t been told. We want all the answers. We want 100% transparency."
“If we could turn back time we wouldn’t have let Dollceanna have the operation. And we’d rather we didn’t have to look for answers and rather have thought Dollceanna did pass away from sepsis.
“We are telling it the way it is,” said Michael, and warned other parents whose children require a scoliosis operation to “be careful.”
“If your child is going for the operation, sit down with the consultants and ask about the consequences and the dangers."
Praising the nurses at Temple Street, both Michael and Bridget said they all loved Dollceanna and Dollceanna loved them.
“We can’t praise the nurses enough in Temple Street, they are angels but we have lost all trust in the hospital. “Our confidence is broken,” they said.
Dollceanna’s case and 18 others are still under investigation as part of the external review.
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