Family of Mayo woman who died after hip replacement raise concerns at inquest

The loved ones of a 77-year-old woman who died following hip replacement surgery at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) told an inquest today they were never told beforehand she was a high-risk patient and would never have allowed her undergo the operation if they had known so.

At the hearing in Castlebar, Ann Marie, Sharon and Myles Gallagher, daughters and son of the late Annette Gallagher, Knockmoyleen, Ballycroy, Westport, also complained strongly about a “lack of information” from the hospital as to their mother’s conditions in the week leading up to her death.

Sharon Gallagher informed the Coroner for Mayo, Patrick O’Connor: “We were never told our mother was a high-risk patient. She fought for that (hip) operation because she was in so much pain. We would never have let her have the operation if told there was a high risk.”

The family’s claim of a lack of communications was denied by MUH and the HSE which was represented at today’s hearing by solicitor Ms. Aoife O’Sullivan of Ronan Daly Jermyn Limited.

Mrs. Gallagher died at MUH on December 20 last seven weeks after undergoing scheduled hip replacement surgery.

Medical evidence was given to the hearing by Ms. Bridget Hughes, consultant orthopaedic surgeon, and Dr. Cyril Rooney, consultant respiratory physician.

Ms. Hughes described Mrs. Gallagher as a “very high-risk patient” who was suffering from COPD and said recovery had been protracted.

It was not a routine hip replacement and the patient was poorly mobile, she added.

Ms. Hughes reassured the family that their mother had been seen every day by a doctor while in hospital, sometimes twice a day.

She added that she thought at all times the family were kept informed.

The cause of death was given to the inquest by consultant pathologist, Dr. Fadell Bennani, as cardiac arrest due to acute hemorrhagic viral pneumonitis. arising in a background of COPD and severe ischaemic heart disease.

After returning a verdict of death from natural causes, Coroner O’Connor urged that communication between hospital authorities and patients’ families should be constantly reviewed and renewed.

“Sometimes communication with families can break down,” the coroner noted before adding: “I think the hospital did as much as they possibly could for Mrs. Gallagher.”

Mr. O’Connor was joined in the expression of sympathy by Sergeant Colm Corcoran, on behalf of An Garda Siochana, and Ms. O’Sullivan, solicitor, on behalf of MUH and the HSE.

* Pictured is Mr. Pat O'Connor, Coroner for Mayo.