An elderly woman who requested her gas be disconnected leaving her without a cooker and heating following a row with the gas company, died from malnutrition and pneumonia, an inquest heard yesterday.
Annie Brown (82), Ventry Park, Cabra, Dublin, lived with her elderly sister Martha, who the family believe was developing Alzheimer's disease at the time of her sister's death on August 20th, 2004. Family members told Dublin City Coroner's Court they believed Martha Brown, now living in a nursing home and receiving treatment for Alzheimer's disease, might have forgotten that her sister was even living in the house. The court heard that by the time Martha raised the alarm her sister had been dead between 12 and 24 hours.
The dead woman's nephew, Dermot English, told the court his aunt Martha may have been cooking food in the electric kettle "because it was the only thing she had. I found meat in the kettle the following week."
A week after her sister's death, a hospital check-up found that Martha was not suffering from malnutrition.
Mr English said the two women seemed to have cut themselves off from the outside world. "My mother couldn't get in touch with them. They didn't engage with people," he said.
The last time he had seen his aunt before her death was three years previously at a cousin's funeral and she had seemed "very frail", Mr English said. A niece of the two elderly women told the court her aunts had chosen to cut off their telephone connection as well as the gas. "It wasn't because of money. They had some sort of row with the company and then told them to cut it off. It was the same with the phone . . . they did have electricity."
She added that she had subsequently contacted the two companies and found out that her aunts had initiated both disconnections. The inquest was not told for how long the elderly women were without gas and a telephone connection.
Brian O'Neill, a neighbour, discovered the body of Ms Brown on her bedroom floor after her sister called into another neighbour in a distressed state.
Mr O'Neill described his elderly neighbours as private people but added there was "no outward signs of problems". Investigating Garda Colin O'Rourke found a lot of food in the house but said most of it had gone stale. Garda O'Rourke said Martha was in a very confused state.
A postmortem found that Ms Brown was suffering from malnutrition and "muscle wasting". She had also developed bronchial pneumonia, another factor in her death.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell recorded a verdict of death by misadventure and described what happened as "a very sad story". He said it was most likely that Ms Brown had collapsed at the side of her bed.