#Limerick woman died in ambulance after seven hour wait

THE family of a #Limerick woman who died in an ambulance outside her home have questioned why it wasn’t supplied with vital life-saving equipment.

Bridget O’Connor (66) Markievicz Park, Athea died shortly before 5pm on September 24 of last year in an ambulance outside her home despite the efforts of doctors and emergency technicians who performed CPR for more than 90 minutes.

At the inquest into her death on Monday, West Limerick Coroner Antoinette Simon was told that Mrs O’Connor’s daughter Mary said her mother was very unsettled the night before she died and “did not look well” in the days leading up to her death.

At 10.30 on the morning of her death, Mrs O’Connor’s GP, Davina Meredith, called for an ambulance as she required immediate hospital care due to the onset of pneumonia.

An ambulance eventually arrived at 1pm but it wasn’t equipped with a blood pressure monitor. At 3pm, a second ambulance arrived and Mrs O’Connor was transferred to this vehicle outside her home.

30 minutes later she went into cardiac arrest and the emergency medical technicians performed CPR in an effort to resuscitate her. Two rounds of adrenaline were administered by Dr Meredith but after 50 minutes of continuous CPR, she was pronounced dead at 4:50pm.

Sergeant Gary Thompson told the inquest that Gardaí were alerted a short time later and Mrs O’Connor’s remains were brought back in to her home from the ambulance for formal identification.

A post mortem examination carried out at the University Hospital Limerick found that Mrs O’Connor, who was a heavy smoker, had acute pneumonia and the early onset of lung cancer.

Questioning Dr Eimear Caffrey who was giving medical evidence at the inquest, family members, including Mrs O’Connor’s daughter Mary, questioned why “the first ambulance wasn’t fully equipped”.

She also asked “if she had been brought to hospital in time, could she have been saved ?”

Another family member asked why the second ambulance was diverted to another call-out before arriving at the home.

When Dr Caffrey said she was unable to answer those questions, Ms Simon asked that the family make contact with their GP for further possible investigations to be carried out on their behalf.

In her verdict, the Coroner ruled that death was due to acute cardio respiratory failure secondary to bronchial pneumonia and the jury returned a verdict in accordance with medical evidence.