Wheelchair fall contributed to death

A 52-year-old woman would not have died at Roscommon County Hospital in February if she had not fallen down a flight of stairs in a wheelchair at the hospital six days earlier, an inquest heard yesterday.

Prof Michael Farrell, consultant neuro-pathologist at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, said Ann Macklin, of Tibarney, Four Roads, Co Roscommon, had sustained a significant head injury on Feb 15.

The head injury was not the immediate cause of death but contributed to it, Prof Farrell told an inquest in Ballaghaderreen, which was conducted by coroner Desmond O’Connor.