Hospital criticised for failing to tell coroner of suspicious death

Limerick University Hospital failed to notify a coroner of the suspicious death of a patient, as it is obliged to do so by law, an inquest has heard.

Limerick coroner Tony Casey said he only learned of the death of a 63-year-old woman who was admitted to the hospital from a nursing home five days after she had passed away, and after her funeral.

Dr Casey said it was too late to order an autopsy with the Health Information and Quality Authority told him of Kathleen O’Doherty’s death.