An inquest was told the funeral cortege of a Co Clare woman who died at University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG), was stopped by gardaí and returned to the hospital on the instruction of a coroner after he learned a wrong drug had been administered to the woman at another Galway hospital hours before she died.
Teresa Ginnane (60), a widow from Killadysert, Co Clare, died on November 23rd, 2004, at the special care unit of UCHG, having first been admitted to the hospital on October 26th.
The Galway West coroner, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, apologised to the family yesterday at a inquest into Mrs Ginnane's death, and explained he had to have more toxicology tests carried out on the body after he learned a wrong drug had been administered in a "needle-swap" incident.
Mrs Ginnane had been transferred from UCHG to a ward at Merlin Park Hospital, on October 29th. Hours before she died on November 23rd, a nurse at that hospital's special care unit inadvertently administered the sedative drug Fentazyn instead of the stimulant drug Noradrenalin, which had been prescribed by anaesthetist Birgitt Straub to stabilise Mrs Ginnane's blood pressure.
Following the needle-swap incident, Mrs Ginnane was transferred to the intensive care unit at UCHG, where she died.
Pathologist Dr Gabriel Mortimer concluded the Fentazyn drug had not been a contributing factor in Mrs Ginnane's death or in her deterioration while in both hospitals. She had been in a very fragile state of health brought about by chronic and incurable rheumatoid arthritis.
The inquest heard that consultant anaesthetist Dr Deirdre Grady had noticed the wrong drug was being administered an hour after it had been given to Mrs Ginnane and the situation was immediately remedied.
She broke down in the witness box and apologised to Mrs Ginnane's only child, Eileen Clancy, and to Mrs Ginnane's sisters and family, for the mistake.
The coroner's verdict stated Mrs Ginnane died from bacterial endocarditis, septicaemia shock and MRSA septicaemia - brought about by chronic rheumatoid arthritis. He criticised procedures at UCHG and said the medical team should have contacted him about the death directly.