Woman died due to medication years after hit-and-run, inquest told

A chronic pain sufferer died as a result of medication she had been taking due to ailments she suffered after a hit-and-run years earlier, an inquest has heard.

Angela Cogan (49), a grandmother from Curlew Road in Drimnagh, Dublin 12, was found dead at her home on October 14th, 2013, after going into respiratory failure while she was sleeping.

Dublin Coroner’s Court heard Ms Cogan had suffered a succession of ailments following a hit-and-run when she was out walking with her boyfriend in 1986.

That incident occurred just a couple of weeks after her 17-year-old brother was murdered, her family told the coroner.

Speaking from the body of the court, her sister Janet Kennedy gave evidence that Ms Cogan had been “extraordinarily unfortunate” throughout her life and since the hit-and-run had “seemed to have one problem after another”.

She had been prescribed a number of strong painkillers, including oxytocin and oxynorm, for chronic pain. She also suffered from bouts of depression, for which she was taking medication.

Awaiting surgery

At the time of her death she had been suffering severe stomach pains and was awaiting hip replacement surgery.

The family discovered she had died at about 8.30pm on October 14th. The inquest heard her mother Gertrude Cogan had thought she was sleeping upstairs throughout the afternoon.

It was usual for her daughter to sleep in due to the medication she was taking, Ms Kennedy told the inquest.

However, when she was thought to be still asleep at about 8pm that evening, her sister Catherine Cogan went to try to wake her and found her unresponsive. When she attempted CPR it became clear rigor mortis had set in.

Toxicology report

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said that at postmortem, the toxicology report showed the medication prescribed to Ms Cogan including opiates, benzodiazepines and anti-depressants in therapeutic to toxic levels, but none at a lethal level.

Her death was caused by the combined effects of the drugs on her breathing, which had probably become impaired while she was asleep, he said. There was no evidence she had intended to harm herself.

He returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

Ms Cogan’s brother James Cogan had been found battered to death in a field near Baldonnel airport on June 18th, 1986.

His friend Patrick Ellis was found guilty but insane on a charge of murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court the following year.