A psychiatric patient who had a swallowing difficulty due to the side-effects of medication choked to death on her food, an inquest was told yesterday.
Ms Anne Sheeran (64), who was a long-stay patient at St Brendan's Hospital in Dublin, was found unconscious by staff on September 1st last year. She was taken to the Mater hospital where she died five days later.
The Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said Ms Sheeran had a long-standing psychiatric illness requiring medication. Side-effects caused a movement disorder affecting muscle co-ordination.
She had had a previous choking episode in 2000 seemingly caused by her swallowing difficulty. She was taken to the Mater where she made a full recovery. On balance, that was probably what happened in this instance.
Psychiatric nurse Ms Joan Tolan said she found Ms Sheeran collapsed on the floor and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Ms Rena Feighery, also a psychiatric nurse, said she was called by Ms Tolan and they both tried to resuscitate her.
Dr Maeve Moran, a consultant psychiatrist, said Ms Sheehan needed the medication to control her psychiatric condition. They tried to manage the side-effects by diet and observing her while eating.
An option was to try to minimise the dose but in Ms Sheeran's case this was tricky as they had to weigh up the disadvantage against the benefits, she said.
She had a history of psychiatric illness over 36 years and had been at St Brendan's since 1994.
Ms Nuala Sheeran, who travelled from Canada for her sister's inquest, said she knew of the side-effects and had been kept informed of what was going on.
Dr Farrell recommended a verdict of death by misadventure.