A 40-year-old woman who deliberately set herself alight, subsequently developed MRSA and died at the burns unit at Dublin's St James's Hospital, an inquest has heard.
The mother-of-two from Stephen's Court, New Ross, Co Wexford, doused herself in paraffin while her partner desperately tried to stop her from setting herself alight using a cigarette lighter on December 10th, 2005.
Her partner told the inquest previously that she suffered from depression and became upset on the day she set herself alight because her car failed an NCT test. The woman had attempted to self-harm in the past.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell adjourned the inquest in February so that medical witnesses could give evidence in relation to her contraction of MRSA.
Dr Siobhán Nicholson carried out the postmortem and told the Dublin City Coroner's Court yesterday that "death was due to shock which was due to sepsis which was due to burns". She told the court that MRSA was one of a number of infections the woman contracted in hospital.
Dr Farrell said MRSA was a factor in death and recorded a verdict of death by misadventure. He said that while it was a self-inflicted death, he was ruling out suicide as the woman had been drinking alcohol.
"These seemed to be circumstances that got out of control and there was alcohol involved. There was an initial issue with the NCT test that the car failed. We have heard that that put her in bad humour," he added.
The woman's partner told the inquest in February that they were talking in the sitting room when she began trying to set her hair on fire using a cigarette lighter before running out the back door.
"She was standing there with a jug of paraffin in her hand. I knocked it out of her hand," he told the court. Back inside the house, the couple spoke briefly before the woman left the room asking to be left alone.
Her partner went into her in the kitchen a couple of minutes later. "She was standing at the fridge. Her hair and clothing were wet. I could smell paraffin. She made a go for the lighter."
He said he then "wrestled" with her before she finally managed to set herself alight while he telephoned gardaí. He threw a basin of water over her and "got all the flames out". He also covered her with wet towels as they awaited the emergency services.
Dr John Kelleher arrived at the scene and administered morphine for pain relief before an ambulance took her to Wexford General Hospital.