Gardaí investigating the death earlier this year of a nine-year-old girl three weeks after she underwent an appendix operation at Cavan General Hospital have sought independent medical advice.
The Irish Times has learned that the advice was sought from an independent expert, who was asked to comment on whether or not Frances Sheridan had been treated appropriately.
The expert advice will be included in the file on the case which Cavan gardaí are preparing for the Director of Public Prosecutions. A Garda spokesman has confirmed that the file on the case is close to completion, and will be sent to the DPP shortly.
Two weeks ago the North Eastern Health Board published its own report on the girl's death.
It blamed system inadequacies for the staff's failure to identify the fact that she had an obstructed bowel when she presented in the hospital's A&E unit on January 30th, three weeks after her operation, suffering from abdominal pain.
She was assessed only by two junior doctors, who believed she had a tummy bug and sent her home. She died 36 hours later.
Meanwhile the North Eastern Health Board yesterday dismissed claims that it had not acted to address safety issues at Cavan Hospital highlighted in a report presented to it three years ago.
The report warned that there were no clinical policies for admitting, transferring or discharging patients in A&E. It also referred to poor teamwork across most specialities, and the fact that A&E space and staffing posed a risk to patient safety.