Harney faces question over woman’s death

MINISTER for Health Mary Harney will be pressed in the Dáil on the delay in completing an investigation into the death of a 75-year-old woman at a Co Cork hospital on June 22, 2006.

Deputy David Stanton, who will raise the issue in Leinster House, said he was concerned about the delay on the report on the death of Hannah Comber.

His Fine Gael colleague, Cllr Liam O’Doherty, the Health Executive Service (South Forum) chairman, said yesterday he had asked HSE officials in February when the report would be finalised.

“I asked on behalf of a constituent and I was informed that the report would be finalised by the end of March at the latest. We are now into the second week in April and we still haven’t got any news. This seems to be taking an extraordinary length of time,” Mr O’Doherty said.

An inquest into Hannah Comber’s death at Heatherside Hospital, near Buttevant, heard she was asphyxiated when she slipped in a restraint chair.

On the night she died, she had been put into the chair in the dayroom due to her being restless. A restraining belt had been put around her and it is believed, when she fell asleep, she slipped down the chair and her neck was compressed by the buckle of the belt.

Ms Comber, who was a diagnosed schizophrenic, had been a patient at the psycho-geriatric hospital for 37 years.

During the course of the inquest, the coroner was told there was no written policy in the hospital on the use of restraint chairs and on dealing with a sudden death.

The inquest had also heard on-the-job training in resuscitation was limited and no defibrillators were in place at the time of Ms Comber’s death.

The coroner directed the jury to record a verdict of misadventure. It was also decided Heatherside Hospital management would be contacted with a list of recommendations which would hopefully prevent similar tragedies.

Gardaí sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions, but the DPP had recommended no charges against staff at the hospital.

The HSE confirmed it had appointed an independent investigation and said the timeframe for its completion was in the hands of the chairperson heading the inquiry.

TIMELINE

June 22, 2006: Hannah Comber dies at Heatherside Hospital, Buttevant, after being entangled in straps holding her in a special chair.

Early June 2006: Gardaí and the HSE launch separate investigations into the cause of her death. The Garda investigation is completed within three months.

Late July 2006: A senior health manager appointed to carry out the HSE investigation steps down after it emerges that he was previously a programme manager at Heatherside Hospital. He is later replaced by Pat Caughan, a former chief executive officer of the Midlands Health Board.

April 2007: Inquest records a verdict of misadventure in the death of Hannah Comber.

April 2008: HSE says investigation is continuing.