The Mayo News

An inquest has been held into the death of a woman who died while being prepared for surgery.
Inquest finds mother died from septic shock

A JURY at the inquest of a 45-year-old woman who died in Mayo General Hospital after she suffered a cardiac arrest when she was being prepared for surgery, found that the cause of death was due to systemic septic shock caused by infarction of the small intestine.
Mrs Geraldine McHugh of Cortoon, Ballintubber died at 6.30pm on July 7, 2006 after she was admitted to hospital suffering from stomach pains on July 5. Mrs McHugh had been diagnosed with bowel cancer on March 8 of 2006 and on June 21 she had a post-op consultation, and was given the all-clear.
On the third day of the inquest, which opened on September 17, Dr Uanghaoje Kenneth Ikhide, who was locum Senior Surgical Resident in Mayo General on July 5, 2006 said that when Mrs McHugh was admitted at 3am, he examined her and found there were no signs of a small bowel obstruction. On the basis of his examination and her history, he diagnosed gastritis inflammation of the stomach and admitted her for further investigation.
On July 6, following a gastroscopy, he discovered linear ulcers and gastric fluid but he said it was in keeping with his original diagnosis. At 8.30am on July 7, her condition deteriorated and he said she complained of tightness of the chest and her heartbeat was 185 beats per minute.
After he was informed that Mrs McHugh’s problems were not with her heart, he consulted with Mr Paul Eustace, consultant surgeon, and transferred her to the Intensive Care unit for emergency surgery. However she suffered a cardiac arrest. She was resuscitated but suffered a second cardiac arrest and died at 6.30pm.
Under questioning from Mr John O’Donnell BL, for the HSE, Dr Ikhide said that x-rays of Mrs McHugh showed small bowel loops but said this was quite common in post-surgery patients and was not indicative of small bowel obstruction. He reaffirmed that he was happy with his diagnosis.
Under questioning from Ms Deirdre Browne BL, for the McHugh famiy, Dr Ikhide said he looked at the x-ray and at the patient and tried to tie everything together. He said there could be one hundred reasons for abdominal pain and they had to exclude the different reasons until they proved the diagnosis.
At a previous sitting of the inquest consultant pathologist Dr Fadel Bennani said the cause of death, in his opinion, was due to systemic septic shock due to infarction of the small intestine.
However, Mr Eustace said from the reports he read the cause of death was not due to bowel problems and stressed there was no clinical evidence that she died of systemic septic shock. He said Mrs McHugh developed an acute abdominal problem but the death was totally unexpected and he was very upset about it. Dr Bennani’s opinion that the death was caused by septic shock was supported by Dr Ann Sundaraj, locum consultant anaesthetist in Mayo General Hospital.
The coroner, Mr John O’Dwyer told the jury of four men and two women that they had to weigh up the evidence and assess what was the cause of death. After deliberating, the jury gave a verdict that the cause of death was in keeping with the medical evidence of Dr Bennani and she had died due to systemic septic shock. Mr O’Dwyer expressed his sympathy to Mrs McHugh’s husband, Seán, their three children and her family.
Mr McHugh thanked the coroner, his staff and the jury for helping the family get some answers and also thanked his legal team for their efforts. Mr O’Donnell extended his sympathies on behalf of the HSE and the medical staff to the McHugh family. Inspector Mick Murray and Mr Michael McCormack, foreman of the jury, also extended their sympathies.

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