A MAN died of liver cancer almost 40 years after receiving a hepatitis C-contaminated blood transfusion following a road traffic incident at the age of 23, an inquest heard yesterday.
Denis Murphy (61), Dolphin Road, Rialto, Dublin, died at St Vincent’s hospital on February 6th, 2010, an inquest heard yesterday.
Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard Mr Murphy acquired the hepatitis C virus as a result of receiving a contaminated blood transfusion following a road traffic incident in 1972.
He had a liver transplant in 2009, but a subsequent evaluation later that year confirmed the presence of cancer.
The inquest heard that Mr Murphy’s death was incorrectly registered by doctors at St Vincent’s hospital.
A death certificate issued to the family stated he died of liver cancer.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said liver cancer “does not tell the full story here”.
“Denis’s death goes back to an incident when he received a contaminated blood transfusion,” Dr Farrell said.
The coroner said the death certificate should reflect that the start of Mr Murphy’s health problems originated in 1972, when he received the blood transfusion.
He told the members of Mr Murphy’s family at the inquest, his father Michael Murphy and his sisters Geraldine Halpin and Anne Murphy, that he would have to have a short inquest to register the death again.
“It just means Denis’s death is properly registered, and reflects the reality of what happened at the time,” he said. “We will be writing to the hospital saying they should not have registered the death.”
Ms Halpin told the coroner they had been before the hepatitis C compensation tribunal.
The coroner recorded a narrative verdict, and extended his sympathies to all members of the Murphy family.
At a separate inquest, the Dublin city coroner heard that a woman who was found dead on the kitchen floor by her sister died of suffocation due to inhalation of food. She had been intoxicated with alcohol at the time.
Noreen Canavan (57), Bloomfield Park, Bloomfield Avenue, Donnybrook, Dublin, was found on the kitchen floor by her sister Maura Canavan at 6am on January 30th, 2010.
The inquest heard the sisters watched the Late Late Showand ate a take-away together the previous evening.
Maura Canavan went to bed at 11.45pm. She told the inquest she woke up at 6am on January 30th and found all the lights were on. She went downstairs and found her sister dead on the kitchen floor.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.