A teenage girl, who died from pneumonia relating to anorexia nervosa, weighed just three and a half stone when she passed away at Sligo General Hospital , an inquest heard on Wednesday.
Rose Ward (18), Connolly Park, Tubbercurry, who died on July 21st, 2007, had dropped in weight from more than 14 stone, Sligo Coroner’s Court heard.
The inquest into her death opened in 2009, but was adjourned after Gerry McGovern solicitor for the family told the then Coroner Dr Des Moran that the deceased’s parents had unanswered questions, and wanted to know why permission had not been sought from them to force feed her.
Ms Ward turned 18 less than three weeks before her death.
When the hearing resumed on Wednesday, Coroner Eamon MacGowan apologised to the girl’s family for the delay in resuming the inquest.
Consultant pathologist Dr Malcolm Little, who performed the autopsy, recounted the “devastating impact ” of anorexia nervosa on the teenager whose immunological system was compromised.
He said she was easy prey to bacterial infection and had suffered a fatal lobar pneumonia, a disease commonly associated with malnutrition.
He found that the cause of death was pneumonia, due to malnutrition , due to anorexia nervosa.
Mr McGovern said the deceased’s parents Martin and Kathleen were just glad to know what had happened to her. They had wanted to know what she died from and now knew that she had pneumonia.
The coroner found that that Ms Ward had died from pneumonia as a result of anorexia and recorded a “narrative verdict of death by natural causes”.
At the previous hearing the family’s solicitor said that the teenager had been admitted to hospital on three occasions in 2007 — from June 11th to 13th; from 23rd June to 29th June; and from July 16th until her death on July 21st. Her weight had dropped from more than 14 stone to six and a half stone over an 18 month period and she was just three and a half stone when she died.
Mr McGovern asked why consent could not have been sought from her parents in relation to force feeding. Mrs Ward wept as the coroner expressed sympathy to the family.
Mr MacGowan said the teenager had suffered from a very serious debilitating disease which stopped her from eating. “The poor girl never came out of it,” he said.
Dr Donal Murray consultant physician at Sligo General Hospital also expressed sympathy to the family.
