A Dublin hospital has been accused of obstructing attempts by both gardaí and the Dublin county coroner to gather evidence for an inquest into the death of a patient.
County coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said yesterday he first wrote to St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, on February 21st this year in relation to an inquest which would be held into the death of Killiney woman Sarah Leonard.
She died on February 7th.
"We have been obstructed all along the way," Dr Geraghty said.
Garda Rosemary Clancy gave evidence that she had made several attempts to take statements at the hospital and had visited it four times.
"I had a bit of a struggle to get statements," she said, although she pointed out that a consultant there had co-operated fully.
Furthermore, while standing outside a room in the hospital during one visit, she heard derogatory remarks being made about the Garda, she added.
She said she asked her inspector to set up a meeting with hospital administration to avoid a recurrence of such difficulties.
Dr Geraghty said the hospital manager Tom Mernagh only finally released statements to lawyers for the hospital's insurers last week and they were then forwarded to him as late as Monday afternoon of this week, five months after they were first sought.
He questioned why Mr Mernagh was not at the scheduled inquest into Ms Leonard's death in Tallaght yesterday.
He said he planned to issue a summons for him to attend next week.
However, counsel for the hospital said he had only received notice to attend the day before. She suggested other witnesses could be heard and the case then adjourned to a later date to allow Mr Mernagh to attend.
Dr Geraghty said he wanted to hear the case in full on one day. All sides eventually agreed the hearing could be adjourned to October.
After hearing a second inquest into the death of an elderly man, who had both MRSA and pneumonia when he died at Loughlinstown hospital in January this year, Dr Geraghty returned an open verdict.
The court heard that Patrick O'Connor (84), Coolgrainey Road, Arklow, Co Wicklow, had been admitted to the hospital on December 12th, 2006, from St Colman's nursing home, Rathdrum, with vomiting and abdominal pain. He was treated with IV fluids, IV antibiotics and painkillers.
The hospital has no policy for screening patients who are referred from nursing homes for MRSA, so it was not known if he had been colonised with the bug at the time of his admission.
Dr Geraghty recorded Mr O'Connor's cause of death as bilateral pneumonia with MRSA septicaemia as a contributory cause and returned an open verdict.