A Wicklow woman who was being treated for suspected pneumonia died of a massive pulmonary embolism (artery obstruction), Dublin City Coroner's Court heard yesterday. Ms Tara O'Flaherty (27), Glebemount, Wicklow town, died at St Vincent's Hospital on July 17th last.
She collapsed in the ward late in the afternoon and despite immediate emergency treatment was pronounced dead at 6.55 p.m. on that day.
Ms O'Flaherty was treated at the hospital in May 1997 for what was diagnosed as a pulmonary infection and seemed to make a good recovery but her condition again gave cause for concern in early July and she was admitted to the hospital on July 10th.
At a review of her case on July 14th the consensus was that she was suffering from pneumonia. A CT scan showed no evidence of embolism and favoured infection as the cause of her problems. Treatment with an anti-coagulant drug was discontinued as a result. A post-mortem found that death was due to a massive pulmonary embolism which straddled both major arteries entering the lungs. The autopsy also showed evidence of chronic thrombo-embolic disease. There was damage to the lung tissue, indicating previous emboli and no evidence of pneumonia was found.
The jury of three men and three women returned a verdict of death by misadventure and expressed concern at the delay between the request for the CT scan and the time the result became available. The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said he would bring this concern to the attention of the staff at the hospital. He stressed the jury was expressing its concern without prejudice to any party.