This article is from page 18 of the 2008-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
A WEST Clare man died due to a brain infarct the cause of which could not be absolutely determined, an inquest into his death heard yes- KOE As
John J Darcy (68), Main Street, Mullagh, died at Ennis General Hos- pital in the early hours of July 13, 2002.
Solicitor Ger Gannon, representing the Darcy family, put it to Sergeant Joe Hehir of Miltown Malbay Garda Station that there had been an “inci- dent” in the previous 12 months be- fore Mr Darcy had passed away.
Sgt Hehir said there had been an in- vestigation of an assault on Mr Darcy the previous year.
During the assault Mr Darcy had
suffered a broken nose and had re- ceived five stitches. Sgt Hehir said that a complaint had been made in August 2001.
A minor had been dealt with in re- lation to this, under the national Ju- venile Diversion Programme which deals with young offenders by cau- tioning them.
The then superintendent in En- nistymon decided that the young boy be dealt with under the Juvenile Di- version Programme.
Superintendent Gabriel O’Gara pointed out to the inquest that the matter had subsequently been re-in- vestigated by an officer from outside the Clare division.
Arising from that investigation, a file was submitted to the DPP. The DPP said that the initial decision to
caution the minor, under the Diver- sion programme, was the correct de- cision.
The solicitor pointed out that Mr Darcy received treatment for his nose injury twice, the second of which was some days before he died.
State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy carried out a post-mortem examination on Mr Darcy’s body on July 13, 2002. She pointed out that he had received surgery for a nose injury in September 2001. He was readmitted to hospital in June 2002 for further corrective surgery, which was deemed a success. He returned home and was brought back to hos- pital some days later as he fell un- conscious. He remained unconscious until his death.
She said that death was due to pul-
monary thrombo embolism, due to deep vein thrombosis, due to immo- bility, which was due to brain stem damage.
“When he left hospital (on June 20, 2002) he appeared to be fit and healthy,” said Professor Cassidy.
However, she said, “Some cata- strophic event” had taken place prior to him losing consciousness. She said that one possibility was that he had suffered a small heart attack but “this diagnosis cannot be confirmed.”
She said that the State Patholo- gist for Northern Ireland, Professor Crane, had come to “similar con- clusions as myself, in that it was unlikely there was a direct associa- tion between the last surgery and his subsequent collapse and the develop- ment of the brain stem condition that
led to his death.”
Professor Cassidy said, “There’s little certainty as to the brain injury that led to his death. It’s undeter- mined.”
The solicitor put it to her, “The cause of death is the real problem. There is no certainty about that from the point of view of the Darcy fam- 7 A
Prof Cassidy replied, “It is most likely this could have occurred at any time, without any of the preced- ing events but that is as much as I can SNA
She said she could not be sure what caused the “catastrophic event that led to death’.
County Coroner Isobel O’Dea ad- journed the remainder of the inquest until a later date.