A DUBLIN woman died from an infection after an operation to remove one of her kidneys, an inquest has heard.
Elizabeth Boyne (71), Aughavangh Road, Crumlin, Dublin, was admitted to St James’s Hospital on July 12th, 2009, suffering from renal problems including kidney stones. A surgical removal of left kidney was successfully carried out the next day and Ms Boyne appeared to be recovering well.
However, Thomas Lynch, a consultant urologist at St James’s, said her condition began to deteriorate six days after her operation and two bronchoscopies (to check airways and lungs) were performed.
Ms Boyne died on August 6th. Dr Hugh Ramsey, who did the postmortem, gave the cause of death as cardiac arrest secondary to sepsis due to bronchial pneumonia.
Dr Barbara Dunne, a consultant histopathologist and supervisor of the postmortem, said pneumonia could occur when a patient was compromised in intensive care.
Counsel for the family Dr Simon Mills told the inquest: “All of the evidence in this case points to cause of death being caused by a hospital-caught infection. There was no evidence of pneumonia prior to hospital admission.”