Woman suspected of drinking window cleaner before death

A woman suspected of drinking window cleaner spent fifty days in a coma before she died.

Natalia Jelagina (53), of Buckingham Village, Dublin 1, and originally from Lithuania, died at the Mater Hospital on September 11th, 2014.

Her medical notes contain several references to the ingestion of window cleaner, though her partner denied she had been drinking that day.

Ms Jelagina, a mother of one with a history of problems with alcohol, had been living in Ireland for 14 years, Dublin Coroner's Court heard.

Her husband had passed away and she was living with a new partner, Sergei Kuzmicius.

In his deposition, Mr Kuzmicius said the pair were at the flat when she collapsed suddenly on July 21st, 2014.

He said the front door was open and Natalia had been outside for a cigarette. When she sat down on the couch, her head dropped toward her chest and she became unresponsive, he said.

Ms Jelegina was in cardiac arrest and was rushed to the Mater Hospital.

Following her death almost two months later, Garda Eric Fox of Mountjoy Garda station asked the woman's partner if she had ingested window cleaner. Through an interpreter, Mr Kuzmucius said she'd had nothing to drink.

Garda Fox said there was a difficulty for gardaí because so much time had elapsed between Ms Jelegina’s collapse and her death in hospital.

It was not plausible to search the flat for evidence of window cleaner given the length of time that had passed, the court heard.

The woman's GP Dr Mel Bates described her as "a lovely lady despite all her difficulties".

The cause of death was bilateral bronchial pneumonia, according to Dr Peter del a Harpe-Golden, who carried out an autopsy.

Ms Jelegina had a blood alcohol level of 172 mg at some point after her admittance to hospital, according to medics, but the exact date of this reading was unknown.

She had a low level of ethylene glycol in her system, a substance that is not naturally occurring in the body, the court heard.

"It's certainly possible that she ingested something. Ethylene glycol is a cardio toxic substance," Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said.

Returning an open verdict, the coroner said it was not entirely clear what had caused the woman to collapse.

“We don’t know the cause of the cardiac arrest and there is some indication she may have taken ethylene glycol but I can’t put it any higher than a possibility,” he said.