Inquest into death after operation adjourned by coroner

AN INQUEST into the death of a 39 year old woman after a routine operation has been adjourned to allow Dublin City Coroner's Court to locate two doctors involved in the case.

The Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said it was important that the court hear evidence from two junior doctors and a senior consultant who had been based at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street.

Dr Farrell listed the case for mention on Thursday, October 3rd, when a date will be set for the conclusion of the inquest.

The court was told that Marian Conlan, a mother of two from Tallaght, died on January 13th 1995 less than 12 hours after a routine hysterectomy and repair operation. Dr Farrell said that the hospital registrar who had performed the operation was out of the jurisdiction and the court had had trouble locating the anaesthetic registrar. The court also wanted to hear from the Assistant Master of Holles Street, Dr Mary Wingfield, who was present when Mrs Conlan was pronounced dead.

Mrs Conlan had been admitted to Holles Street on January 11th 1995, for investigative surgery which was expected to lead to a hysterectomy. She had suffered a prolapsed womb after the birth of her second child.

The operation took about 21/2 hours and she regained consciousness. In the early hours of January 13th she suffered a heart attack and shortly after 5 a.m. she appeared to have a fit and suffered a second heart attack. She was pronounced dead at 5.30.

A consultant obstetrician at Holles Street, Dr Reginald Jackson, said that the operation had been successful and there was no sign of internal bleeding when it was finished. There was slightly more blood loss than usual, but this could be attributed to Mrs Conlan's age, as most hysterectomies were carried out on post menopausal women. Dr Jackson was supervising the operation, which was carried out by a junior doctor, Dr Michael Geary.

A pathologist, Dr Peter Kelehan, said that his autopsy indicated that Mrs Conlan had died from massive internal haemorrhaging. There appeared to have been a continuous and slow loss of blood over a number of hours.

Dr Geary was said by the coroner to be out of the jurisdiction. Dr Jackson said that he had left the hospital in March or April last year after his contract ended. An anaesthetic registrar, Dr elShami, who had attended Mrs Conlan, had also finished his contract with the hospital last year.