Woman choked to death ‘due to side effect of medication’
Anne Sheeran, who had been a long-term resident of St Brendan’s Hospital in Dublin since 1994, was found lying unconscious near the toilets on September 1, 2003.
A psychiatric nurse at the hospital, Joan Tolan, told the Dublin City Coroner’s Court when she found her there was a small piece of bread in her mouth.
Another psychiatric nurses, Rena Feighery, told the court the drugs Ms Sheehan was taking to control her psychotic symptoms had a side effect which meant she had difficulty swallowing.
Ms Sheeran was on life support for four days in the Mater Hospital before it was turned off and she died on the morning of September 5, 2003. The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said a verdict of death by misadventure would be passed. However, he adjourned the case so the evidence could be again heard before a jury, which was not available yesterday.
