Pensioner choked and collapsed in ‘cafe coronary’

A 70-year-old man choked and collapsed while eating lunch in the dining room of a daycare centre in Rathmore, Co Kerry, in what was described at the inquest as an incident of “cafe coronary”.

A significant risk factor was the lack of teeth for chewing food, and, unfortunately, according to the coroner for south Kerry, Terence Casey, coroner’s court sittings in Kerry come across mealtime deaths fairly regularly.

A number of manoeuvres were performed on Dermot Dennehy, of Cools, Rathmore, but they failed to revive him.