Inquest hears man broke hip and pelvis on way to pub

A man who broke his hip and pelvis in a fall on Christmas Eve continued to the pub with his injuries, an inquest heard.

Kevin Bridgeman (71) arrived at the bar in a dishevelled and confused state and was unable to tell family how the accident had happened.

Mr Bridgeman of Collins Green in Finglas East, Dublin 11 was lifted into a car to bring him home later that evening.

Family reported having difficulty placing him into the car and said he remained confused with no memory of the incident.

An inquest into the man’s death at Dublin Coroner’s Court heard he usually made his way to the Quarry House pub by taking the bus and completing the journey by foot.

On Christmas Day, he was unable to get up from his chair but refused to go to hospital.

The following day he was brought by ambulance to the Mater Hospital. Scans revealed he had a broken hip and pelvis.

The scans also revealed a number of old fractures that had since healed. A CT brain scan found no abnormalities. Three days into his stay in hospital, Mr Bridgeman suffered another fall, on December 29th, but he did not sustain injuries that lead to his death in this fall, the inquest heard.

However, he remained in hospital and contracted pneumonia and later sepsis.

On January 16th his condition deteriorated and he went into septic shock. He developed multi-organ failure and died the following day, January 17.

The cause of death was sepsis due to bronchial pneumonia due to a chest infection. A fracture to his hip and pelvis secondary to a fall were listed as the major contributing factors to his death.

"It was a traumatic injury he sustained somehow and that was the start of this whole cascade of events," Deputy Coroner Dr Crona Gallagher said.

Returning an open verdict, Dr Gallagher said it was not possible to say how he sustained the initial traumatic injuries.

“We don’t know precisely how he sustained the injury, the hip and pelvis fracture. We know it’s a traumatic injury but we don’t know how it happened,” the coroner said.

“On the balance of probabilities it was a fall and it occurred near the bar because it just wouldn’t be possible for him to travel far with those injuries,” Dr Gallagher said.