Cancer victim’s pain ‘ignored in A&E’

A MEATH man was left waiting “for hours” in A&E on several occasions despite being in severe agony, an inquest had heard.

Brendan Somers, aged 47, of Dunboyne, Co Meath, died from decompensated liver failure with cancer of the pancreas at St James’s Hospital on May 5, 2011.

He had presented to the hospital with severe abdominal pain several occasions in the months prior to his death, but left each time without being seen.

He subsequently wrote a letter to the hospital’s chief executive, complaining of the triage system and that people were arriving after him but being seen before him.

“He said he was hours and hours waiting in pain in A&E each time and that’s why he discharged himself without being seen,” Mr Somers’s sister, Lily Foley, told the inquest.

On May 28, Mr Somers presented to the hospital’s hepatology department for a routine appointment, where cancer of the pancreas was diagnosed.

He was told he had just days to live, and that palliative care would be initiated.

Speaking after the inquest, Ms Foley said: “They told us on the Tuesday he had cancer and only a few days to live. He died on Thursday morning.

“If they’d identified the cancer soon, we’d have all been able to see him before he died. He might have still died but everyone could have said bye.”

Ms Foley said her brother couldn’t walk properly because he was in so much pain&.&

She said the family was unhappy about how things had evolved, especially his care in the final days and the fact no postmortem was carried out as the death wasn’t reported.

Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell returned a narrative verdict.