A woman who died of a blood clot after having weight loss surgery in Turkey revealed to have spent nearly two days sitting in an overcrowded emergency department, an inquest hears.
Erin Dennis, 26, collapsed at home right after leaving Tallaght University Hospital (TUH). The Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard how she spent 43 hours and 38 minutes in the emergency department, when kidney stones were determined as the source of her abdominal pain.
Her mother, Theresa Dixon, burst into tears as she described her daughter’s complaints of dizziness, impaired vision, and her left eye “turning in,” which led to her admission to TUH on January 23, 2022, according to the Irish Mirror and the Mirror. She said: “She was my breath. My only child who came from my body. I have failed her because it was my job to protect her.”
The inquest heard patients should be triaged within 15 minutes, however Ms Dennis was not seen until four hours and 29 minutes after arriving at the hospital on February 28, 2022. Ms Dennis’ conditions warranted a doctor’s examination within an hour after being triaged. However, it took over 11 hours before that happened, and another six and a half hours before the findings of a CT scan were ready.
Ms Dennis elected to have the kidney stones found by the scan treated conservatively, leaving TUH just after 3.30pm on March 2, 2022. She collapsed outside her house at 5pm and was in cardiac arrest when she arrived at the hospital at 5:48 p.m. Attempts to revive her failed, and she was pronounced dead at 7.03pm.
According to the inquiry, Ms Dennis planned to fly to Turkey in November 2021 for gastric sleeve surgery after researching the matter, and she was taking multivitamins following the procedure. Allan McCarthy, a consultant neurologist at TUH, said medical records revealed she had been vomiting five or six times per day for eight weeks before being taken to the hospital in January 2022. Dr McCarthy stated the patient had been diagnosed with Wernicke encephalopathy, a brain condition caused by a shortage of vitamin B1.
Dr McCarthy said doctors had believed the vomiting was due to the effect of the gastric sleeve surgery as there was “no other obvious cause.” The inquest heard the fracture to the deceased’s left ankle was linked to a problem with her gait which may have been due to her lack of vitamin B1.
Dr McCarthy further stated there was no record of Ms Dennis receiving any anti-blood clotting medication following the operation in Turkey. The proceedings revealed physicians at TUH did not consider Ms Dennis at danger of blood clots when she visited an outpatient clinic to evaluate her ankle on March 1, 2022, since she was six weeks post-surgery and her leg seemed normal. According to medical documents, the deceased never complained of leg discomfort at any time.
Clare Keane, the coroner, made a narrative verdict based on “very complex” evidence about the deceased’s condition in various stages leading up to her death. Dr Keane verified the deceased died from a pulmonary embolism caused by a deep vein thrombosis in an artery in her left leg.
Dr Keane expressed her condolences to Ms Dennis’ family, saying Erin had high hopes the operation she had undertaken in Turkey would be “life-changing.” She added: “The tragic outcome could not be foreseen.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter.