Consultant verbally abused at coroner's court

THERE WERE emotional scenes and a Mater hospital consultant was verbally abused at Dublin City Coroner’s Court yesterday.

During his account of the treatment and death of a 38-year-old woman who had Down syndrome, consultant Dr Gerard Sheehan was told to “F*** off” by a member of the dead woman’s extended family.

Later following a finding by coroner Dr Brian Farrell that Veronica Murray had died from acute cardiac failure secondary to a bilateral pulmonary embolism, family members became distraught and wept loudly outside the court.

During the hearing Ms Murray’s family repeatedly complained of the treatment she received at the Mater hospital where she died on December 12th, 2008.

Ms Murray’s sister Karen Kelly told coroner Dr Brian Farrell that Veronica Murray had been admitted complaining of being unwell with pains in her stomach.

The family complained that an investigative procedure on Ms Murray’s stomach had left her in pain, with “fevers and a temperature”, but they said they found her to be without an intravenous drip for a period of up to 14 hours and while notes may have recorded that food had been served to her, they claimed she had not been eating.

Ms Kelly said she had been told complications had arisen with the stomach procedure and a tear had been diagnosed. Ms Murray’s brother William said it was not good enough that his sister had been allowed to refuse some medication, and questioned the hospital’s policy on people with Down syndrome.

In his evidence Dr Sheehan said he had “made a special effort” to get Ms Murray admitted to the hospital’s special investigations unit. While he accepted that Ms Murray had on a small number of occasions refused medication it had not affected her treatment. He said she was not dehydrated and had received medication by injection, principally because Ms Murray was Down syndrome and had a dislike of intravenous drips.

He said the stomach tear would have been painful but was not the cause of death, which was an embolism. Ms Murray had been given medication for the possibility of an embolism and he had been appalled and shocked by her death, he said.

Dr Sheehan said it was a reality that the management of patient care involved unexpected developments and he offered his sympathy and that of the hospital staff to the family of the deceased.