Teen died four days after surgery to remove stomach, inquest hears

A 19-year-old man died following emergency surgery to remove his stomach, an inquest in Dublin has heard.

A coroner returned a verdict of medical misadventure in relation to the death of Dean McMahon of St Berach's Place, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5.

The teenager was described by his family as kind, loving and gentle.

He died at Beaumont Hospital on June 20th 2015, the day he was due to start a new job at Croke Park.

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In a statement after the inquest, his family called on the Minister for Health to open a high-dependency unit for post-operative care.

“We call upon Minister Harris to do everything in his power to address these issues and to ensure that an avoidable tragedy never happens again and save other families from the relentless pain and sense of loss we now suffer everyday,” the family said.

Mr McMahon was initially hospitalised with a perianal abscess on June 3rd, 2015. On June 15th, he was diagnosed with toxic megacolon, an acute and rare complication of Crohn’s disease.

Doctors performed surgery to remove his stomach the following day.

The procedure is required in 99 per cent of cases of toxic megacolon, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard.

Mr McMahon was initially recovering well. However on the morning of June 20th, he reported feeling unwell.

A nurse called a doctor seeking an immediate review of the patient. The inquest heard from the senior doctor on duty, Dr Constantin Bartels, who described the patient as light headed and weak.

On examining Mr McMahon’s test results the doctor found him to be ‘more acutely unwell’ than initially thought and he tried to contact the consultant surgeon on call at 8.59am. However, his call went unanswered.

Mr McMahon went into cardiac arrest and died later that morning.

He had suffered a haemorrhage due to a perforated blood vessel that reopened four days after surgery.

Beaumont hospital apologised for failures in his care.

The inquest heard the hospital was prioritising the findings of an internal review conducted after Mr McMahon’s death.

The report also recommended the implementation of a high dependency post-operative care unit.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane endorsed the findings of the hospital report and returned a verdict of medical misadventure.