Man died of methadone intoxication

A jury at the inquest of a man who died after being in Garda custody has recommended that a methadone protocol be introduced in all Garda stations as soon as possible.

After 19 days of evidence, the seven-member jury at the Dublin City Coroner’s Court returned a narrative verdict, simply describing the circumstances of the death of Dwayne Foster (24), Woodbank Avenue, Finglas, Dublin.

They found Mr Foster had died of methadone intoxication after lying to a doctor about his drugs history.

Mr Foster was found unresponsive in Coolock Garda station in the small hours of March 7th, 2006, and was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Beaumont Hospital.

He had been arrested in connection with the shooting of mother- of-one Donna Cleary (22), who was fatally wounded at a party at Adare Green, Coolock, on March 5th.

Mr Foster was administered methadone on two occasions on March 6th by Dr Peadar Kirke.

The doctor prescribed the medication after Mr Foster told him he was a drug addict and was on a methadone treatment programme at Ballymun Clinic and was getting 60mls a day.

However, he was not on the programme and the methadone he took killed him.

The jury made three recommendations in addition to the verdict.

They recommended a methadone protocol be implemented in all Garda stations as soon as possible. They said there should be written medical information on prisoners for those who needed it, including visiting doctors. And they recommended that there should be access out-of-hours to the central treatment list, a list of people being maintained on State methadone programmes.

City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell thanked the jury and said he would pass their recommendations to the methadone prescribing protocol implementation committee.