A MAN who died in the accident and emergency department of a Dublin hospital had been in the waiting area for up to seven hours when another man noticed he was blue in colour, an inquest has heard.
Patrick Dunne (41), of Coultry Road, Ballymun, Dublin 11, died of methadone, alcohol and sedative drug toxicity in the Mater hospital on January 11th, 2009.
Paul Meehan, who was a patient in the A&E department on the night in question, noticed Mr Dunne’s hands and face were blue shortly after 10pm and alerted a receptionist, who went to look for a doctor and nurse and came back to tell him they were all busy.
Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard Mr Meehan then drew the matter to a security guard’s attention before he wheeled Mr Dunne, who was in a wheelchair, to another area and alerted the doctors and nurses, who attended to him. Mr Dunne was pronounced dead at 10.25pm.
The inquest heard that Mr Dunne, who had a history of drink and drug addiction, had not been re-registered on the hospital system at the time the alarm was raised, despite having been back in the department since 3pm that day.
Mr Dunne presented at hospital on January 10th with swollen legs. He was called at 8.30am on January 11th and again an hour later but was not in the waiting room. Mr Dunne had a history of leaving before being seen by doctors and regularly visited the hospital.
Security personnel were alerted to Mr Dunne’s presence in the main reception area at 2.30pm and, being unsteady on his feet, he was brought in a wheelchair to the A&E department.
When asked by a receptionist if she should re-register Mr Dunne, a nurse told her to see if Mr Dunne stayed. But when the alarm was raised seven hours later Mr Dunne had not been re-registered.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said he would like to raise the issue of patients who re-present having been de-registered.
Solicitor for the hospital John Gleeson said the hospital had looked at the situation about de-registered patients returning and said, “there has been a considerable tightening up of the process”.
Dr Farrell recorded a verdict of death by misadventure and endorsed the reviewed re-registration procedure.