New inquiry into death at Grangegorman

The Mental Health Commission has launched a fresh inquiry into the death of a patient at St Brendan's hospital, Grangegorman, who died last year after swallowing part of a coat hanger.

Rita Nolan (44), a wife and mother of two from Lucan, Dublin, developed an abscess on her throat after swallowing a piece of metal she had broken from a coat hanger.

The object had been removed by doctors at St Brendan's. However, an abscess developed over the course of the following day, swelling in size and causing her to choke. She died in the hospital on April 10th, 2004.

A report of the circumstances of Ms Nolan's death was submitted to the Inspector of Mental Health Services by St Brendan's hospital on April 27th, 2004 and was examined by the Mental Health Commission in May 2004. No further action was taken.

An inquest into Ms Nolan's death was held earlier this year and it returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

The Mental Health Commission has since informed the Department of Health that it intends to review the circumstances surrounding her death.

When contacted yesterday, the commission said it could not comment on individual cases nor say whether the new investigation was prompted by any information that arose during the inquest.

However, Minister of State for Health Tim O'Malley said in the Dáil on Tuesday night that the commission was reviewing the circumstances of the death "now that the inquest has been competed".

Green Party TD Paul Gogarty, who is in contact with the Nolan family, said both he and the family had "nothing but the highest regard for staff in St Brendan's" but that questions remained unanswered in relation to Ms Nolan's death.

"What we want is the truth. What exactly happened, whether it was in line with normal practice and whether normal practice was good enough."

The inquest had heard Ms Nolan had previous swallowing incidents and once required surgery after swallowing a spoon. No X-ray was taken after the final incident.

"It could well be that nothing untoward happened, that every procedure was carried out properly, or it could be that an unfortunate overworked member of staff, members of staff or indeed the policymakers in hospital management are collectively guilty of negligence leading to Rita's death," Mr Gogarty said.