Woman, 75, died in freak choking incident

AN ELDERLY woman suffered irreversible brain damage after a freak choking incident at a sheltered housing unit, an inquest heard yesterday.

Elizabeth Dougherty-Tobin, aged 75, had lived at O’Connell Court, a sheltered housing unit on Cork’s Windmill Road for people over 50 with mental health problems, since 1998.

She was on medication for schizophrenia, but was otherwise healthy, alert, active and mobile, Cork Coroner’s Court was told.