A DUBLIN shopkeeper suffered a brain haemorrhage and died at the Meath Hospital on the same day he had been due to attend the hospital for a brain scan, an inquest was told yesterday.
Mr Gilbert Taylor (46), of the Grange Shop, Grange Road, Rathfarnham, had been diagnosed on August 15th, 1995, as haying "tension headaches" on a visit to the accident and emergency ward, but was admitted to hospital in a semi conscious condition two days later.
Ms Dolores Taylor, the deceased man's sister, told the inquest she had rushed to her brother's bedside at the Grange Shop, next door to her home, on that day believing he had died. She called for a priest and prayed with him before the ambulance arrived.
Mr Taylor was put on a life support machine, but died on August 21st, 1995, having suffered three subarachnoid haemorrhages.
A jury of four women and two men recorded a verdict of death by natural causes in the case heard before the Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell.
The inquest was told that Mr Taylor, who was involved in a nursery business in Co Meath, had attended the casualty department on August 15th, 1995, suffering from a severe headache. In the previous week he had suffered a terrible headache which had lasted for six hours.
Dr Claire Brenner, a senior house officer in the casualty department, recalled that Mr Taylor had a history of headaches and that he had woken up that morning with a severe pain in his head.
Her impression was that Mr Taylor was suffering from a "possible tension headache", a diagnosis also made by another doctor who examined him on this occasion.
An appointment was made on the following day for Mr Taylor to attend the Meath Hospital for a brain scan on August 21st, to eliminate the possibility of a tumour or other serious causes of the headaches.
Dr J.M. Barragry, a consultant at the hospital, said that when Mr Taylor was first examined he showed no abnormalities, such as neck stiffness, which might have indicated symptoms of subarachnoid haemorrhage.
When he was admitted two days later he was "agitated, semi conscious and requiring a considerable amount of sedation".
Mr Taylor had developed, "neurological signs that something had happened in the brain". A scan was carried out and subarachnoid haemorrhage was diagnosed, he said.