An open verdict has been returned at an inquest into the death of a woman nine days after being admitted to a hospital where surgery to rejoin her bowel was unsuccessful and resulted in her developing septic shock.
Kitty Donnelly (80), Dundalk road, Carlingford, Co Louth, was admitted to the Louth County Hospital on August 27th, 2004. She was found to have a tumour causing a bowel obstruction.
Surgeon Dr Ibraham Ahmed told Dundalk Coroner's Court that on September 1st, he removed the tumour which, he said, looked malignant.
After removing 26cm of bowel, he performed an anastomosis in which the pieces of bowel either side of the section he had removed were joined together with titanium clips.
Ms Donnelly was taken to intensive care because her condition deteriorated.
On September 3rd, Dr Ahmed decided to operate and "check if there is a leak from the bowel". He found "no signs of healing" at the point of the anastomosis and some of the clips had come undone. He did find a leak from the anastomosis into the abdominal cavity. This had resulted in peritonitis and septic shock.
Ms Donnelly did not regain consciousness after the second operation and died on September 5th. Consultant pathologist Dr John Ryan said she died from septic shock.
Louth county coroner Ronan Maguire said there was no evidence of a mistake at the time of surgery but said if a colostomy instead of an anastomosis had been performed at the time the tumour was removed, the peritonitis would probably not have set in. He returned an open verdict and extended his sympathies to her family.