A 94-year-old woman with a “phobia of choking” died after choking on her dinner in a south Dublin nursing home, an inquest has heard.
Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday heard that Margaret Browne had been living at Ailesbury Nursing Home in Sandymount at the time of her death on November 5th last.
Her daughter, Caitríona Browne Caldeira, told the coroner she had just returned home to Drogheda, Co Louth, after visiting her mother earlier that day when she received a call from the nursing home. She said she was in “disbelief” when she was informed by staff of what had happened given her mother had been “in great form” around an hour prior.
Although Ms Browne was not considered high risk and no previous choking incidents had been noted, Ms Browne Caldeira said her mother “absolutely had a phobia of choking”.
Staff nurse Clinton Gonzales told the inquest he was called into the diningroom after Ms Browne began to choke on chicken and vegetables which had been chopped into smaller pieces in order to allow her to eat independently. He said Ms Browne was struggling to breathe and holding a spoon in her hand.
She was removed from the diningroom and brought to her bedroom for treatment, where her breathing deteriorated.
Members of the family questioned why Ms Browne was not treated in the diningroom in the interests of timely action. Mr Gonzales explained it was safer to treat her in her nearby room, away from the 15 other residents present.
He said the emergency services were called and the Heimlich manoeuvre was performed but it was “highly unsuccessful”. A suction procedure was also attempted using equipment on hand.
After Ms Browne stopped breathing, and despite a “do not resuscitate” order being in place, CPR was carried out on direction from the emergency services for up to 15 minutes. Ms Browne was pronounced dead at the scene shortly afterwards by Dublin Fire Brigade paramedics, the inquest heard.
Alison Woods, director of nursing at Ailesbury Nursing Home, said a review was carried out following Ms Browne’s death. While she said the incident was found to have been managed as well as possible, it was noted that communication between staff could be “more effective”.
She reiterated that it was best practice to remove Ms Browne from the diningroom before life-saving measures commenced and that her room was a short distance away. “I do understand your concern, I’m sorry for your experience,” she told members of Ms Browne’s family.
Coroner Aisling Gannon returned a verdict of accidental death and recorded the medical cause of death as choking on food and amyloid cardiomyopathy. A postmortem found evidence of amyloidosis, a rare age-related disease, which is generally only discovered at postmortem examination.
Although it was unknown, Ms Gannon said the underlying cardiac condition could have contributed to Ms Browne’s choking incident and her death.
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