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E-mailNews New Furor Over Cancer Care
There are growing demands for a wide-ranging investigation of cancer services following the revelation of the death of a young mother after her illness was misdiagnosed in the same hospital that gave another patient the all-clear before her life was also claimed by cancer.
Edel Kelly, a 26-year-old mother of two boys aged three and six, died last June in Ennis General Hospital while she was preparing legal action against the Health Service Executive (HSE) for bungling that she claimed deprived her of a chance of life.
Her family decided to put aside their private grief and go public with details of Edel's battle after the hospital last week claimed the death of the other woman, Ann Moriarty, in April was an isolated case.
Moriarty, 53, died after doctors three times gave her the all clear. Widespread fury over her case was reported in the Irish Voice last week.
Anger against the health service and its political head, Health Minister Mary Harney, has been exacerbated to an incalculable degree by the story of what happened to Kelly.
She underwent tests in July 2006 after she found a lump on her breast. She was given the all-clear in December of that year.
In June 2007, she went to her doctor complaining of back pain, and then, in October last year, she was admitted to the Ennis hospital, vomiting blood and complaining of persistent back pain. At this point, a large lump had formed on her left breast.
She went to hospital in Limerick where it was confirmed that not only did she have breast cancer but she had also developed secondary symptoms.
Edel, from Kilrush, Co. Clare, died on June 21, leaving her partner Noel McGreene and sons, six-year-old Jack and three-year-old Lee.
The Ennis hospital is already at the center of a high-profile call for a public review of cancer care after Moriarty's husband, Karl Henry, met Harney on Wednesday of last week.
Edel's parents have called for the same in their daughter's case. They have also called for the resignation of Harney.
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