A man developed a fatal blood clot and died after a freak incident in which he slipped on a plastic poly pocket, an inquest has heard.
Norman Lynch (63), of Riverston Gardens, Navan Road, Dublin 7, collapsed and died suddenly at Connolly Hospital on December 4th, 2016, 10 days after his initial fall, the inquest at Dublin Coroner's Court was told.
Mr Lynch, an air traffic controller and soccer referee, had been due to take early retirement.
"He was great fun, full of life and in perfect health," his partner, Lesley Gleeson, said following the inquest.
“We found love again, the second time round for both of us. I never expected it but he proposed as a surprise on my birthday.”
Ms Gleeson said she heard a bang and a shout as Mr Lynch was walking from the kitchen into the living room at his home on November 24th, 2016.
“He’d slipped on a plastic poly pocket on the floor,” she said.
Mr Lynch injured his upper leg in the incident and was diagnosed with soft tissue damage by his local GP. He had physiotherapy and was prescribed painkillers.
“His leg was black and blue from above the knee,” Ms Gleeson said.
Two to three days after the initial fall, Mr Lynch developed breathlessness and on December 4th he collapsed after getting up early to make coffee.
“He just kept saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’” Ms Gleeson recalled.
Neighbours performed CPR and an ambulance arrived within minutes, but Mr Lynch was pronounced dead at Connolly Hospital later that day.
The cause of death was pulmonary emboli in the context of a recent lower limb injury.
Deep vein thrombosis
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said Mr Lynch had not displayed the normal signs of deep vein thrombosis, which more commonly develops in the lower leg.
“In the circumstances, he did all the things that one does: he went to the doctor, had physiotherapy, but he must not have had the signs pointing to thrombosis in the leg,” she said.
The coroner noted that even if a patient was prescribed blood-thinning medication following such an injury, this did not guarantee their survival.
Dr Cullinane said Mr Lynch’s breathlessness in the days following the fall indicated that he may have had small clots forming in his lungs.
The inquest heard Ms Gleeson had urged her partner to tell his GP of his breathing problem, but this issue was not mentioned in the doctor’s medical notes.
The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death.