An inquest jury into the death of a woman who was inadvertently given a lethal dose of a dangerous drug at University College Hospital, Galway, has agreed she died as a result of a potassium chloride overdose.
The jury recommended that potassium chloride be treated as a controlled drug in future and that a checklist of drugs used in the operating theatre be drawn up, double-checked and signed by two people before each procedure. The inquest was told the drug was used in Texas to execute criminals.
The doctor who mistakenly administered the lethal dose to Mrs Veronica Connolly (69), of Whitestrand Road, Galway, following a routine operation last year, apologised to her family during the inquest yesterday.
The woman's daughter, Mrs Mary Gannon, criticised the hospital for its lack of communication and being insensitive towards the family following the tragedy.
She said the family had to wait until the second day of the inquest to receive an apology from the hospital.
Dr Mark Grennell (29), who was a senior house officer with two years' surgical experience, was present when Mrs Connolly was brought to Theatre Six on the morning of October 14th last year.
He told the inquest that the operation for a rolling hiatus hernia, performed by surgeon Mr Denis Quill, had gone well, but the woman suffered a cardiac arrest and died a short time later.
The inquest heard on Thursday that Mrs Connolly had been given two ampoules of strong potassium chloride - the same amount used in Texas to execute people by lethal injection - and this had caused her cardiac arrest.
Dr Grennell said he asked his superior, Mr Quill, while Mrs Connolly was still in the operating theatre, if he would give her the usual antibiotic Mr Quill normally gave to his postoperative patients.
Mr Quill agreed and Dr Grennell got the antibiotic from a locked drugs press in the corridor adjacent to the operating theatre. He then returned to the theatre and took what he "presumed" were two ampoules of sterile water from the anaesthetic trolly.
He mixed the contents of the two ampoules with the bottle of powdered antibiotic which he then administered through the patient's intravenous drip. This was common procedure.
Dr Grennell told the inquest he had no idea that potassium chloride would be on the trolley. "I was never told it was on the trolley. It is a drug I have never used in my life. I would have no reason to use it and therefore I would not know where it was kept."
