A woman who was taking a contraceptive pill developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and died, an inquest heard yesterday.
Julie Hennessy (31), Archers Wood, Dublin, was discovered slumped in the living room of her apartment on March 22nd last by a friend. A postmortem revealed that Ms Hennessy, who was a non-smoker and of healthy weight, died of a massive pulmonary embolism due to DVT.
Dr Peter Szontagh-Kishazi, pathologist at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, told Dublin County Coroner's Court yesterday that the contraceptive pill was the cause of Ms Hennessy's DVT.
"The only important factor was the oral contraceptive pill," Dr Szontagh-Kishazi said. "Clotting is a well-known risk of using the contraceptive pill. There is no other medication that has such a big risk as the oral contraceptive pill."
Ms Hennessy had been taking an oral contraceptive for a number of years.
Ms Hennessy, who worked as a group manager for financial company Bisys and was originally from Douglas, Cork, had suffered a knee injury while skiing in January. She had also taken about 20 flights in the past 18 months.
However, Dr Szontagh-Kishazi told the court that he did not believe either the injury sustained or the flights were contributory factors in her death.
He did not find any injury or swelling to Ms Hennessy's leg and believed it was very unlikely that the knee injury was a contributory factor. While flights - particularly in economy class - could trigger deep vein thrombosis, flying was not a factor in Ms Hennessy's death as the event was "a recent complication".
"With flying, it would have to have occurred in the plane or soon afterwards," he told the court.
DVT occurs when the flow of blood is restricted in a vein and a clot forms.
A friend of Ms Hennessy, Angela Murphy, Allendale Square, Dublin, told the court she collected her from Connolly hospital on March 21st at 11.30am, where she had been undergoing unrelated tests, and dropped her home.
She said Ms Hennessy had had a limp since her skiing accident in January and had complained of feeling unwell with a pain in her calf and breathlessness on the St Patrick's bank holiday weekend - the weekend before her death.
Ms Hennessy had also been breathless when talking to her on the phone on March 20th.
However, when she collected Ms Hennessy from hospital on March 21st, her limp had improved and she was not breathless. "I said to her she seemed better and she was walking better. She appeared fine. I was not concerned for her health," Ms Murphy said.
However, the following day, when Ms Murphy was unable to contact Ms Hennessy, she became concerned and called to her apartment at 7.40pm. When she got no response, she let herself in with a key she had.
"When I saw the alarm had not been set, I knew something was wrong. I went into the living room and found her there, slumped on the couch," Ms Murphy said. Doctors were unable to establish the time of Ms Hennessy's death.
Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty told the court that the cause of Ms Hennessy's death was massive pulmonary embolism secondary to deep vein thrombosis in the lower limbs secondary to oral contraceptive use. He recorded a verdict of misadventure.
Dr Geraghty said it was "a very sad case". Ms Hennessy was not a smoker, was not overweight and had had no other symptoms which would have placed her at risk in using the contraceptive pill, he said.
Outside the court, her father, Ray Hennessy, who was accompanied by his wife, Angela, and their two daughters, said: "The pill was the major cause of our daughter's death and we want to put it on record that other young women should be aware of these dangers.
"Doctors are aware of the risks, but I want to warn young women of the possible consequences of taking it. I wouldn't like this to happen to another family."