THE HUSBAND of a woman with swine flu told Dublin City Coroner’s Court yesterday that he begged paramedics to take her to hospital the night before she died but they refused.
But paramedics said that it was her husband, Ahmed Mohamed, who would not give them permission to take her to hospital.
Mother of four Roda Mohamed Muhumed (26), from Mount Symon Crescent in Clonsilla, Dublin 15, who was originally from Somalia, died on January 29th last year from adult respiratory distress syndrome.
She was diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection by her GP, Dr Patrick McCarthy, five days previously. Her temperature was not high enough to indicate swine flu, he said. All four children in the house were also ill at the time and were treated with antibiotics.
Mr Mohamed told the court that his wife’s condition got worse over the following days and by Wednesday January 26th she was bedridden, in pain, vomiting and having difficulty keeping down fluids.
She was seen by an out-of-hours doctor who diagnosed gastroenteritis. As her condition deteriorated, Mr Mohamed became concerned that she was suffering from dehydration and called an ambulance. But he said paramedics only examined her medication on arrival and told him that she should complete the course of antibiotics.
They advised him to give her rehydration solutions and refused to take her to hospital, he claimed.
Paramedic John McCrory denied this and said that they had advised the couple that Ms Muhumed should be taken to hospital.
Mr Mohamed asked about the waiting time to see a doctor at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, Dublin, said Mr McCrory, and on hearing that paramedics could not say how long it would take, he had refused to let his wife be taken to hospital. Mr Mohamed would also not give paramedics permission to examine his wife, he said. Mr Mohamed denies both of these claims.
When Ms Muhumed’s condition deteriorated significantly overnight, an ambulance was called but she was unresponsive to CPR and was later pronounced dead at Connolly hospital. All four children were immediately taken to Temple Street children’s hospital where they were given Tamiflu medication.
A postmortem confirmed that Ms Muhumed died from acute adult respiratory distress syndrome caused by swine flu.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said that there was a fundamental conflict in the evidence that could not be resolved. He delivered a narrative verdict setting out the facts.