Hyponatraemia inquest adjourned amid call for coroner to recuse himself

Raychel Ferguson died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in June 2001

The inquest into the death of Raychel Ferguson has been adjourned pending a written application from the family's lawyers that the coroner recuse himself because of "bias against the family".

The nine-year-old girl from Londonderry died from hyponatraemia at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in June 2001.

It came a day after appendix surgery at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.

Hyponatraemia is an abnormally low level of sodium in blood.

The condition can occur when fluids are incorrectly administered.

'Serious application'

A new inquest is being held into Raychel's death after a public inquiry in 2018 found it, along with the deaths of four other children in Northern Ireland hospitals, was avoidable.

On Thursday counsel for the Ferguson family began an oral application that the coroner Joe McCrisken step back from the inquest.

Mr McCrisken asked the family's lawyer a number of short questions, including when the decision to make an application had been taken, before saying he would prefer that such a "serious application" be put in writing.

The Ferguson family described a previous inquest held into Raychel's death as a "shambles"

The application in written form was to be submitted by 14:00 BST.

The hearing is due to resume at 10:00 on Tuesday morning.

The new inquest into Raychel's death opened in January 2022 after being ordered by the attorney general when new evidence came to light.

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Raychel's parents were very critical of a previous inquest held into her death in 2003, which the girl's mother Marie Ferguson described as a "shambles".

In 2013, the Western Health and Social Care Trust admitted liability for her death.