A 48-YEAR-old Bandon woman died due to a ‘failure of timely medical intervention’ after she contracted sepsis, an inquest at Bandon District Court heard recently.
Claire O’Connell of 7 Sean Buckley Terrace, Bandon, died on October 8th last after her inquest heard that she had a colon infection which caused severe diarrhoea.
Paramedic Dorothy Grimes said she received an emergency call that night from an elderly woman regarding an 86-year-old man at that address.
However, on arrival she realised the details were incorrect after meeting Claire’s mother, Elizabeth, who appeared confused and said her husband had died.
‘I saw the deceased on the couch who was wearing a t-shirt on, and a blanket was covering her legs. Her body was cold to touch,’ said Ms Grimes, who noted that Ms O’Connell appeared to have been deceased for some time.
Mark O’Connell, a twin brother of the deceased, said in his statement read out in court by Insp Emmet Daly, that his sister was acting strange that day.
‘It was like she was in a trance all day. I tried to save her, I couldn’t save her and she was so protective of me,’ he had said.
Assistant State pathologist Dr Margot Bolster told the inquest that she carried out an autopsy on the deceased on October 10th 2023.
She noted that while Ms O’Connell was on a number of medications for depression, anxiety, and anti-psychoses, there were no drugs or alcohol found in her system.
She said Ms O’Connell suffered from very bad pressure ulcers and was morbidly obese.
She also said that she believed that she must have been lying on the sofa in the same position for a long period of time to have developed ulcers.
Coroner Frank O’Connell said that there was a lack of proper care management for Ms O’Connell and said she died due to a failure of timely medical intervention.
