A widowed mother of six has brought a High Court challenge to a coroner's "perverse" decision that the smoking of cannabis had either induced or contributed to a heart attack resulting in the "death by misadventure" of her 37-year-old husband.
Dublin County Coroner Kieran Geraghty had, in reaching his verdict on the cause of death of Paul Byrne, failed to consider several other matters, including research rejecting links between smoking cannabis and heart attacks, Fiona Byrne said in an affidavit.
The coroner, she argued, failed to properly take into account Mr Byrne's medical history, that he was being treated for high cholesterol at the time of his death and had been waiting for about a month for an "urgent" appointment for an MRI scan following the discovery of a blood clot in his leg.
Nor did it appear that Dr Geraghty had taken into account the possible effect on Mr Byrne of having to wait some 40 minutes for an ambulance to bring him from his home in Tallaght to Tallaght hospital on the day of his death, Ms Byrne added.
Mr Justice Michael Peart yesterday granted leave to Desmond Dockery BL, for Ms Byrne, of Glenshane Grove, Tallaght, to bring judicial review proceedings challenging the conduct of the inquest into her husband's death and the findings reached by the coroner.
Ms Byrne claims the coroner reached his "perverse and irrational" decision after an inquest conducted at a speed of "whirlwind proportions".
On August 15th last, Dr Geraghty determined that Mr Byrne died on November 9th, 2005 by misadventure by reason of, and/or significantly contributed to, the fact that traces of cannabis resin were found in his system.
The coroner found such traces were sufficient to have induced and/or contributed to the onset of a myocardial infarction (heart attack) from which Mr Byrne died.
Ms Byrne said such findings flew in the face of scientific research. She said her husband smoked cannabis at times in an effort to relieve pain, but he was not in any sense a chronic user.
She had attended early at the inquest in the hope of getting answers as to her husband's untimely death, but Dr Geraghty had failed to address her at the outset of the inquest as to whether she wished to be heard or represented.
After her father-in-law complained about the time the ambulance took to get to his son, Dr Geraghty had instead addressed comments to her father-in-law as to whether he wanted the inquest to proceed or be adjourned.
Her father-in-law had replied that all he wanted was answers as to why his son had died and the coroner had said the inquest would proceed. At no time during this exchange, was any deference paid to her as the wife of Mr Byrne, nor was she asked what her wishes were, Ms Byrne said. Her father-in-law was not authorised to speak on her behalf.
In an affidavit, Ms Byrne said her husband was at home on November 9th, 2005. He had been hospitalised about a month earlier after a blood clot was found in his leg.
After he became unwell, she contacted the local doctor who advised the earliest they could get out was within an hour and an ambulance should be called if her husband deteriorated. Within minutes, her husband worsened significantly and an ambulance was called, she said.
He lost consciousness shortly afterwards and she tried to resuscitate him. She, her children and her neighbours rang the ambulance service multiple times over the next 30-40 minutes "but to no avail", she said. The tragedy was that they lived just five minutes from the hospital, she said, and she could have tried to drive him herself. When the ambulance arrived, the personnel worked on her husband for some 15-20 minutes before taking him to hospital where he arrived at 16.32pm. He was pronounced dead at 17.10pm.
