This article is from page 22 of the 2011-12-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
THE death of a 14-month-old baby boy in a car seat in Spanish Point last year was due to sudden unexpected death in infancy, an inquest has heard.
Clare County Coroner Isobel O’Dea said she was satisfied that Nathan Ryan died from natural causes.
Hyperthermia was cited as a risk or contributory factor to the infant’s death at the inquest at Clare Coroner’s Court in Ennis last week.
Nathan had been on holidays with his foster parents Liam and Fiona Doheny at Spanish Point caravan park on July 29 (2010). He had been in the full time care of the couple from Toureen, Ballysimon, Limerick since January 2010.
Miltown Malbay based GP, Dr Billy O’Connell told the inquest that he had been requested to go to Spanish Point to attend to a child that was unable to breath.
The child was then brought to a medical centre on the Spanish Point where adrenaline was administered and de-fibrillation was attempted. Paramedics also attended the centre and Dr O’Connell stated that Nathan was pronounced dead at 16.50pm.
Fiona Doheny told the inquest that she was a Montessori teacher and a foster parent with the Health Services Executive. She said that on July 29, Nathan ate breakfast. She explained that she put him into a car seat in the family car at 1pm. She said she was going to bring Nathan for a drive, as he had been unsettled.
She said Nathan fell asleep as she sat “about 10 feet” away from the car. Ms Doheny said she left a car door open and checked on Nathan “about three times”. She said that when she checked on him again at 4pm, “he wasn’t right”. “I called Liam twice and screamed,” she added. Ms Doheny said they called the emergency services and Martin Downes, a family friend living nearby and first aider for 25 years.
Liam Doheny stated that he got a pint of cold water and tried to pat Nathan down. He said Dr O’Connell and Mr Downes arrived quickly to the scene.
“Martin Downes was a great help and everyone that helped us on the day was brilliant,” he said.
Ms Doheny’s mother, Maureen Burke, described Nathan as a “delicate child”. She said he cried a lot but not because he was not cared for. She said her daughter kept going over to the car to check on Nathan.
“It wasn’t out of neglect. Nathan was well taken care of by my daughter Fiona,” she stated.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy concluded that a young child had been found dead in the back of a car on a warm day.
She told the inquest that Nathan appeared to be well cared for and there was no evidence of any specific disease or trauma.
She said Gardaí had carried out experiments in an attempt to re-create conditions in the car on the day in question. She said the temperature in the car would have risen but not to lethal levels. Dr Cassidy said Nathan had not been exposed to lethal temperatures.
She said death was due to sudden unexpected death in infancy with hyperthermia a contributory or risk factor.
Offering her sympathy to the Nathan’s family, Ms O’Dea said it “is a very sad situation when a young child passes away”. She said “great efforts had been made to revive Nathan”.