A MAN who suffered a seizure hours after he was assaulted and then died weeks later, may have died because of an adverse reaction to penicillin administered at a hospital, a court has heard.
Patrick Ryan (47), St Martin's Avenue, Waterford city, was attacked at a bar in the hours following the Waterford-Cork All-Ireland senior quarter-final hurling fixture in July 2005.
In the hours following the assault at J&J's bar, also known as The Briar Rose, in Ferrybank, Mr Ryan suffered a cardiac arrest.
He was being treated at Waterford Regional Hospital at the time of a seizure, which occurred 10 minutes following the administration of antibiotic, Augmentin, the court heard.
Mr Ryan had suffered further seizures before his death on September 10th at the hospital, the court learned.
Edward Daly (29), Belmont Heights Ferrybank, who has pleaded guilty to the assault causing harm of the deceased, is being charged with his manslaughter at the Circuit Criminal Court in Waterford.
Mr Ryan, who sustained a dislocated finger, a fractured nose and an injury to his chest and ribs, may have suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of anaphylactic shock, a jury of eight women and four men were told.
According to Dr Garrett Fitzgerald, a former consultant physician at the hospital, Mr Ryan may have died following the administration of Piperacillen, a semi-synthetic broad-spectrum form of penicillin.
The drug was administered to the deceased for the treatment of pneumonia, it emerged. "I would attribute the cardiac arrest to the Piperacillen," he said.
Adrenaline, which was administered to Mr Ryan, was used to stimulate the heart during cardiac arrest, while it is also used to treat anaphylactic shock.
Medical literature estimated that the chances of suffering such a reaction to stand at between one in 5,000 to one in 10,000, he added.