A father of three who went into hospital for a straightforward day procedure died of water intoxication after drinking excessive amounts of water, the High Court has heard.
Mr Justice Paul Coffey was on Tuesday told the family of Sean O’Donnell (59) has settled a High Court action over his death at St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) in Dublin on January 20th, 2020.
Declan Doyle SC, instructed by solicitor Stuart Gilhooly for the family, told the court that following a procedure at the hospital, Mr O’Donnell “was unfortunately encouraged and advised to drink excessive amounts of water” and he suffered water intoxication.
Mr Doyle told the court the water intoxication caused cerebral oedema, seizures, cardiac arrest and the death of Mr O’Donnell.
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Counsel said Mr O’Donnell, a business manager, had gone in to SVUH on the morning of January 20th for the procedure under local anaesthetic. The procedure, he said, went off without incident, but he was later that day pronounced dead.
Water intoxication or water poisoning is when you have more water in your body than you need, and it causes a chemical imbalance that the body can’t clear out naturally and decreases the electrolytes, especially sodium, in the body.
Noting the settlement and the division of the statutory €35,000 mental distress payment, Mr Justice Coffey said it was a very shocking case.
Mr O’Donnell’s partner, Gail McGuinness of Stillorgan, Dublin had sued St Vincent’s Healthcare Group over his death at the hospital.
In the proceedings, it was claimed that Mr O’Donnell was advised, encouraged and allowed to drink an excessive amount of water within the short period of time resulting in water intoxication, cerebral oedema seizures cardiac arrest and his death.
It was claimed there was a failure to properly care for, manage, supervise or treat Mr O’Donnell.
There was also, it was alleged, a failure to properly or adequately identify or evaluate or treat his deteriorating condition or properly or adequately respond to it.
Mr O’Donnell, it was claimed, was caused to become hyponatraemic, when the concentration of sodium in the blood is abnormally low.
It was also contended that an excessive oral intake of water was advised within a short period of time resulting in water intoxication, and that there was a failure to monitor or supervise the intake of water by Mr O’Donnell after the procedure.
St Vincent’s admitted a breach of duty of care in the case.
An inquest into Mr O’Donnell’s death heard that such a situation had never occurred before.
The coroner returned a verdict of medical misadventure and confirmed that Mr O’Donnell’s death was an unintended consequence from drinking water and said the situation was rare and out of the ordinary.
The coroner also recommended that there be mandatory training in cases of low sodium and for water input and output.
Mr Justice Coffey extended his deepest sympathy to Ms McGuinness and to the O’Donnell family.
