Family of Longford hairdresser Bryonny Sainsbury will continue fight for answers as to why she died

The first time the family of the late Bryonny Sainsbury found out that she could have been saved was in the course of the inquest into her death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court.

Coroner Cróna Gallagher returned a verdict of 'medical misadventure', a term referring to death as an unintended result of medical treatment, in the death of the young Newtownforbes woman.

“We were very shocked,” Alison Sainsbury, mother of Bryonny, said when the fact came out during the inquest, “We only found out on Tuesday after Professor Donncha O'Brien said that Bryonny could have been saved with the intervention of a medicine. It was like telling us that she died all over again.”

In his deposition consultant neurosurgeon at Beaumont, Professor Donncha O’Brien, told of the care plan he had put in place to be followed in Mullingar Hospital to monitor and treat Bryonny. The inquest outlined a litany of errors that meant key symptoms of her deterioration were missed by medics.

“The care plan wasn't followed from Beaumont to Mullingar,” Alison told the Leader, “It was just a catastrophic, all the way along, failure of everyone doing what they should have been doing for her.”

Having sat through the inquest the bereaved mother spoke of the “rollercoaster of inadequate care” that was outlined to the coroner. Throughout that process the Sainsbury family were supported by the legal team of Longford solicitor Karen Clabby and Barrister Esther Earley BL.

The young woman sustained a traumatic brain injury after being pushed against a wall by a horse. She was brought by ambulance to Mullingar Hospital: “Bryonny received really no treatment for the injury she sustained at all,” her mum said.

After arriving at the Midland's Regional Hospital Mullingar on August 26, 2021 the patient was transferred to Beaumont Hospital on the August 29 after her health deteriorated, where she later died.

Since then the family have been unsuccessfully seeking answers to why their daughter died, despite the professional opinion that her situation was “salvageable”.

“We've had to wait over two years for this. We haven't got a death certificate yet. You know, it's just a snowball of events, and it doesn't stop,” Alison said of the frustrating lack of communication from the HSE about the case.

“There's no words that I could use to describe the feeling. You can't put it into words,” she said, “You're angry. You feel sick. You think, 'why couldn't I have done more?' You're putting your trust in the hospital, you're in the hands of the specialists in their field.”

In the course of the inquest the family listened to details put forward, some of which contradicted their recollections of the events.

There were others who spoke out about the care Bryonny received: “The only people really that helped Bryonny were the nurses in Mullingar and the neurosurgeon in Beaumont. I take my hat off to Donncha O'Brien, for being such a gentleman and for being so empathetic.

“You could feel his sincerity in the witness stand. He was traumatised. He said afterwards he couldn't work for a couple of days after he heard about Bryonny. He couldn't believe why she wasn't alive. Of course, then he found out that they hadn't been following the care plan at all,” she said.

The events of August 2021 were the most harrowing any parent could experience: “We had to watch our daughter die in front of our eyes and after asking time and time again, 'why isn't she being transferred?' What more can you do? We were coming up against a brick wall all the time and arrogance,” Alison recalled.

The verdict of medical misadventure was recorded at the inquest after two days of evidence from over a dozen witnesses.

Two and a half years on from the death the family have yet to see a promised review.

“Bryonny died on the 31st of August (2021), we had a letter the 13th of October saying that they're having a review team put together. They've had that review team put together, and had the review. It's nearly a year since that review and we still haven't seen it. They're coming up with excuse after excuse after excuse not to give it to us.”

The grieving mother said the heartache can be overwhelming: “It continues, it doesn't just stop when you bury your child,” she said, “You just got to carry on. We've got no choice, have we?”

In addressing the coroners court, counsel for the Sainsburys claimed the evidence demonstrated that staff in Mullingar failed to keep experts in Beaumont up to date on changes in the patient’s condition when Ms Sainsbury was vomiting and complaining of the pain in her head.

Dr Gallagher's medical misadventure findings are a cold comfort to the family, but Alison wants more: “Dr Cróna Gallagher, the coroner, was brilliant. She listened to everybody, but you could sometimes see her disbelief of what some people were saying.

“I hope it brings better communication between the consultants to the SHO (senior house officer) to the registrar to the doctors to the nurses, because not one of them knew that Bryonny had to have a blood test done once a day to check her sodium level,” she said.

The whole process, from Bryonny's death to the family's search for answers, has had a significant impact on Alison, her husband Chris and the rest of the family: “You see the effect as a mum, what it does to your other children, and how it continues to affect them.

“They're not sleeping, they're remembering stuff all the time, and my husband. This is the first time in his life he's not been out of work, through anxiety and sleep, insomnia, and everything else that goes along with trauma. You're watching all this, trying to keep them safe, and you couldn't, that's the worst thing.”

The belief that something good can come from the tragedy is a motive for Bryonny's mother: “I would like to meet up with other families that have gone through similar experiences to us, because something's got to be done. This cannot keep happening. You see the nurses, they're run off their feet. They have so much responsibility, and that responsibility doesn't seem to go to all levels, that's heartbreaking.”

Alison's overwhelming sorrow is described when she speaks of the future her daughter lost: “We'll never see Bryonny again. She was going places in her business, she was employing people, she loved life.”

Alison concluded by saying she will continue to fight to get the answers to the question why her daughter died.