'The staff in the ICU couldn't look at us' - Mother of woman fatally injured by horse after verdict of medical misadventure

"Bryonny Sainsbury (25), a hairdresser from Co Longford, was crushed while assisting a vet inspection of the animal in a stable on August 26, 2021, succumbing to massive cerebral injuries in Beaumont Hospital five days later. However, Bryonny was only transferred to Beaumont after spending three days in the ICU at Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar."

"Describing her daughter, mother Alison said she had been "flying" it after launching her own business after leaving college. "She trained as a hairdresser, and she worked in a salon for a couple of years, and then she decided to open her own salon when she was 21, just to see if she'd like it," she told the Today with David McCullagh show on RTÉ Radio 1."

""Bryonny was holding Louis and the vet continued to try and put a pipe to clear the airway," Alison said. During the procedure, the horse "flipped out" and slammed Bryonny against the wall, rendering her unconscious for around three minutes. "We had a phone call from [...] the livery owner and said 'Can you come down here? Bryonny needs you', because we live about half-an-hour-20 minutes away so he didn't want to alert us to the seriousness of it.""

Bryonny Sainsbury, 25, from Co Longford, was crushed while assisting a veterinary examination on August 26, 2021, and suffered massive cerebral injuries. She spent three days in the ICU at Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar before being transferred to Beaumont Hospital, where she died five days after the incident. The Sainsbury family settled five actions against the HSE and received an apology from Midland Regional Hospital for failures in care. Bryonny had launched her own hairdressing salon at 21 and kept horses as a passion. During the procedure the horse flipped out and rendered her unconscious for around three minutes, and pandemic restrictions prevented her mother from entering the hospital.

Read at Irish Independent