EFFORTS were made by hospital staff to resuscitate a young man after they found him hanging in a waiting room in a Dublin hospital, an inquest was told yesterday.
Mr Damian Smyth (25), unemployed, of Dollymount Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin, was discovered suspended from the hinge of an automatic door by his leather belt at St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, Dublin, on March 18th last.
Staff Nurse Michael McCormack yesterday told the Dublin Coroner's Court that the deceased arrived in the hospital reception area at 8.45 p.m. He asked him to go to the waiting room and when he spoke to him at 9.30 p.m. the deceased was "calm and relaxed" awaiting the arrival of the duty doctor.
Mr McCormack said at about 11 p.m. he discovered Mr Smyth hanging by his waist belt and he raised the alarm. Staff tried to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead at the Mater Hospital, Dublin, at 11.59 pm., having been taken there by ambulance.
Dr Malik Elahi, the doctor on call in the hospital, told the inquest that the deceased had been discharged three days previously but was attending the hospital's out patient centre for a mental and behavioural disorder due to cannabis and alcohol abuse.
Dr Seamus Kirrane, a pathologist who carried out a post mortem the following day, told the inquest that death had resulted from asphyxia due to hanging.
Dr Brian Farrell, the Dublin City Coroner, accepting yesterday's jury verdict of death by suicide commented that the death was a devastating tragedy to the deceased man's family. He also expressed condolences to the hospital staff who attempted to resuscitate him.