Gardaí investigating the death of a woman who died days after being admitted to Wexford General Hospital in a severely malnourished state have today sent a file to the DPP.
The late Evelyn Joel
Evelyn Joel (58), who had multiple sclerosis, was admitted to the hospital last New Year's Eve after an ambulance was called to the house she shared with her daughter, her daughter's partner and their two children in Enniscorthy.
The ambulance crew alerted gardaí upon discovering Mrs Joel in a weak state and weighing around four-and-a-half stone. A Garda spokesman said at the time that Mrs Joel had been found "in a bed in absolutely horrendous circumstances".
She died six days later. It is understood that she had been confined to bed for a number of months and, following her admission to hospital, she was also found to be suffering from septicaemia.
Gardaí conducted a forensic examination at the house where she had been staying and questioned a number of people about her death. A man and a woman were arrested but later released without charge.
Mrs Joel's daughter, Eleanor, said she had asked her mother to go into a nursing home, but "she was stubborn and very headstrong" and would not co-operate.
Ms Joel, who is several months' pregnant, called a doctor on January 1st. She said her mother's last word to her was "no" when she told her an ambulance would be coming.
A separate Health Service Executive investigation into the case is continuing.