A dying man was left without medical assistance for 3½ hours after he fell down a stairs because his lover "panicked", an inquest has been told.
Peadar McNamee died from injuries he received when he fell down the stairs of his house in Edenderry, Co Offaly, on July 4th last.
A sister of the dead man told the inquest in Tullamore that it did not make sense that her brother had been left for so long without a doctor or an ambulance being called.
Ms Pauline McNamee asked her brother's lover, Ms Phil Heraty, why she did not call a doctor.
Ms Heraty told the inquest that she had been married to her husband, Tommy, for 21 years, and they had three children. But she had conducted a relationship with Peadar McNamee for some years.
On July 4th last year she had met Peadar McNamee in the Coach House Bar in Edenderry at 2.45 p.m. and they had remained there drinking for the afternoon. They then returned to his house, where she intended staying the night, and she started ironing clothes.
At 7.20 p.m. Peadar McNamee went upstairs to bed, but seconds later she heard a loud bang. She found him lying motionless on his back at the foot of the stairs, and there was blood on his face. "He was breathing very heavily, and there was foam coming out of his mouth and eyes," Ms Heraty said.
She rang a local man, who told her he was "only messing". She then rang two other friends, who arrived at 10.30 p.m., over three hours after Mr McNamee had fallen down the stairs.
Medical personnel arrived shortly afterwards and Peadar McNamee was removed to the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore. He was pronounced dead on arrival from injuries received in the fall.
The doctor who had conducted the post-mortem examination said that the delay in getting Mr McNamee to hospital might not have been a factor in his death, since he was almost certain to have died anyway.
The coroner, Mr Brian Mahon, expressed his concern at the delay in getting medical treatment. It was "deserving of comment", he said.
Ms Pauline McNamee, speaking from the public area of the inquest, said it was more likely that someone panicking would have run out of the house, shouting and looking for help. She continued: "Why in God's name didn't you call a doctor?"
The jury returned a verdict of death from intracranial brain injuries, including haemorrhages, consistent with a fall.