Two patients die from toxic reaction to chemotherapy

TWO Irish cancer patients died within weeks of each other from a very rare toxic reaction to a common chemotherapy treatment, an inquest has found.

But a leading cancer specialist said it would not be practical to introduce a complex blood screening procedure here which identifies those at risk.

Dr Seamus O’Reilly, a medical oncologist at Cork University Hospital (CUH), was speaking during the inquest into the death of Maureen Patten, 64, from Tower in Co Cork.