Toddler suffered fatal injuries after falling into childminder’s paddling pool, inquest hears

A toddler suffered fatal injuries after falling into a paddling pool in her childminder’s garden, an inquest has heard.

Two-year-old Hannah Kealy, from Cremorgan, Timahoe, Co Laois, was formally pronounced dead at Children’s Health Ireland, Temple Street, Dublin on July 24th, 2022, four days after the incident.

Marie Kealy told the inquest she dropped Hannah off at the home of childminder Ann McDonald at around 8.20am on July 20th before going to work. She said Hannah was a bit nervous about being back with the childminder after Ms McDonald took a holiday, but was reassured that she would have a great time in the paddling pool.

Ms Kealy said she received a call at around 10.24am informing her that Hannah had got into the paddling pool and was not responding. She was told to go to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

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“It took a minute to digest what was going on,” she said.

Ms Kealy told coroner Cróna Gallagher she did not know “if Hannah was going to live or die” when she arrived. Hannah was brought to theatre to stabilise her ahead of a transfer to Temple Street. The toddler was declared brainstem dead on July 23rd and formally pronounced dead a day later.

In evidence, Ms McDonald said it was “just like any other day” and that she gave Hannah breakfast at around 9.30am. The toddler was still pottering around inside when Ms McDonald went to the back door to see Karen Lawlor, who had arrived with her children.

Ms McDonald said she spoke to Ms Lawlor for no more than five minutes and then thought she heard words about Hannah being in the pool. The other children then rushed inside and she went outside and found Hannah face down in the pool. She put her in the recovery position and called Ms Lawlor’s name to see if she could get help.

She said she believed the sliding doors leading to the paddling pool were closed, but could not say that definitively. It was possible they were opened by the other children as Hannah would not have been able to do so alone, she said. Ms McDonald said she could not see the paddling pool from her back door.

Ms Lawlor told the inquest she was reversing her car when she heard Ms McDonald screaming her name. She said she could see from the childminder’s face that “something was seriously wrong” and recalled Hannah’s face being “really pale” after she was taken from the pool.

After failing to detect any pulse, Ms Lawlor said she started compressions on Hannah’s chest, which resulted in water squirting out of her mouth. The inquest heard a defibrillator from the local GAA club was in Ms McDonald’s house and was used to apply two shocks to Hannah.

Paramedics arrived soon after and detected a weak pulse after treating Hannah. Staff at the Midlands Regional Hospital quickly assessed that Hannah had gone without oxygen for a significant period.

Dr Gallagher said a postmortem showed Hannah suffered a brain injury as a result of a drowning incident, and pneumonia, acquired as a result of falling into the pool, was a contributory factor in her death.

Stradbally-based Garda Brian Kelly told the inquest he found a toy tractor next to the paddling pool and he believed Hannah stood on it in order to get into the pool. He agreed with the coroner that the pool was larger than standard paddling pools, estimating the water depth at 2ft to 2½ft.

Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr Gallagher said it was an “appalling tragedy” and there were no words that she could offer to lessen the pain of Hannah’s family. She said Hannah was given every chance by how people reacted after the incident and noted that her organs had been donated to help others.