HSE report into death of care patient still not complete after seven months

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has still not completed its investigation into the circumstances behind a 65-year-old woman’s death, almost seven months after she died from asphyxiation while strapped to a chair in a care home.

This is despite the fact that, in that time, a garda investigation into the incident has been completed, a file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and — as was predicted by garda sources close to the case — that office has decided staff at the home should not be prosecuted.

Hannah Comber was a resident at Heatherside Hospital, near Buttevant, Co Cork, when she suffocated after becoming entangled in straps binding her to a special chair on June 22. Ms Comber had been at the hospital for 15 years.