A PSYCHIATRIC patient whose body was found on a Co Dublin beach after she went missing from hospital complained of blood "boiling" in her brain three days before her death, an inquest in Swords has heard.
Ms Maeve Kelly (19), of Balkill Park, Howth, also believed that her boyfriend might have been able to read her mind and control the way she thought, according to the doctor who admitted her to St Ita's Psychiatric Hospital.
Ms Kelly's body was found by rescue workers on a beach in Portrane behind the hospital on September 3rd last year, a day after she went missing.
Yesterday's hearing was the fourth in the case, which the Dublin County Coroner, Dr Bartley Sheehan, said has had a "chequered history for a variety of reasons".
The jury was dismissed twice last January, once when Dr Sheehan said it had been brought to his attention that some of the jurors might have an interest in St Ita's hospital. The second adjournment followed an article in the Irish Independent by Mr Sam Smyth which Dr Sheehan said risked influencing the jury.
Dr H. Kahlout, a psychiatric registrar, said Ms Kelly was suffering from "acute psychosis" when he admitted her as voluntary patient to St Ita's on the afternoon of August 31st, 1996. "She was complaining... of out of character and bizarre behaviour which was strange to her".
She had complained of "boiling of blood in her brain" and "the belief that her boyfriend might have been able to read her mind and control the way she thought and behaved," he said.
His initial diagnosis was that she was suffering from a "psychotic episode" caused by a number of factors. She was not disruptive, violent or suicidal. He prescribed her a "major tranquilliser" after her delusions and hallucinations became more prominent later that day.
Ms Kelly had a long history of epilepsy and had had an operation two years earlier to remove an epileptic focus from the brain.
A psychiatric nurse from St Ita's, Ms Ann Murphy, said she saw Ms Kelly by her bed five minutes before she went missing on September 2nd. Once her absence was noticed, the hospital and its grounds were searched and the family and senior staff notified.
Ms Kelly had been in an "open door" unit with "straightforward" access to the outside. This complied with general management policy, she said.
A consultant pathologist, Dr Dermot Curran, who performed the post mortem on Ms Kelly, said her death was due to drowning and her previous brain operation did not contribute to it.
The jury found that Ms Kelly had died by drowning and returned an open verdict. Dr Sheehan, Mr Felix McEnroy, representing St Ita's, and Mr Sean O hUallachain, for the Kelly family, all apologised for the trauma caused to relatives and friends due to delays in the hearing.
Mr McEnroy said no attempt had been made to apologise to the family or compensate it for the legal costs incurred by the delays, and that was "a very regrettable matter".