An open verdict was recorded by a coroner yesterday at an inquest into the death of a 48-year-old woman in hospital from a heart attack caused by an anaphylactic reaction to an injection of Augmentin (penicillin).
The deceased, Philomena Nolan, with an address at Glenbrook, Knock, Co. Mayo, was admitted to Mayo University Hospital on January 7 last with acute inflammation of the gallbladder.
After being administered Augmentin intravenously, Mrs. Nolan became seriously ill. In the words of her daughter, Hazel, who was by her bedside, her body went limp and she became “pale as a ghost”.
Mrs. Nolan was resuscitated but died ten days later after life support equipment was switched off with the agreement of her family.
Hazel Nolan told the inquest that after injection of Augmentin via IV line, her mother said “she felt tingly all over her body and had a weird taste in her mouth” and that she “didn’t feel right”.
Ms. Nolan said that on about the 8th day in ICU, a consultant explained her mother was extremely brain damaged and that her reaction was due to the penicillin.
The Coroner Patrick O’Connor returned an open verdict in what he described as a “very tragic and sad case” involving the death of a young mother.
The medical cause of death was earlier outlined to the inquest by Dr. Fadel Bennani, consultant pathologist, as cardio-pulmonary arrest due to an anaphylactic reaction to Augmentin injection.