Extreme bed sores led to death by sepsis, coroner finds

Paramedic Dorothy Grimes was the first on the scene at No 7 Sean Buckley Terrace, Bandon, after receiving an emergency call last October that an 86-year-old man had suffered a cardiac arrest.

At the scene, she found a confused, elderly women — the deceased’s mother, Elizabeth O’Connell — who first said that her husband had died. On the couch, she found a deceased woman wearing a t-shirt and an adult diaper.

Rigor mortis had not yet set set in, but she was cold to the touch and there were no sounds from her heart.

Ms O’Connell had “clearly been deceased for some time,” Ms Grimes said.

There was considerable confusion in the house

The deceased’s twin brother said in a statement that he saw his sister dying that day. Inspector Emmet Daly read Mark O’Connell’s statement to Cork County Coroner’s Court.

“She was acting strange all day, like she was somewhere else, in a trance,” Mr O’Connell said.

“I tried to save her, I couldn’t save her. God came to take her.” He said that he loved his sister, who “was so protective” of him.

Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said that an autopsy was carried out on October 10, 2023.

Although she was on various medications for depression, anxiety, anti-psychosis, cholesterol-lowering, and a painkiller, there were no drugs or alcohol found in her system so she had not taken her medication recently, Dr Bolster said.

However, she was suffering from clostridium difficile — which can cause extreme diarrhoea and lethal inflammation of the colon. Diarrhoea was a contributory factor, as was lack of movement, morbid obesity, lack of hygiene, and very bad pressure ulcers, Dr Bolster said.

Her main cause of death was sepsis with pressure ulcers and morbid obesity

Ms O’Connell must have been lying in the same position for a long period of time to have developed these ulcers, Dr Bolster said.

Ms O’Connell’s sister told the court that the family had tried to intervene and help many times, but they had been repeatedly told to “mind their own business” by their mother.

Coroner Frank O’Connell said: “The picture seems fairly clear that she was quite unwell, living in poor conditions, incontinent apparently, and dependant.

“Clare O’Connell died due to the failure of timely medical intervention,” Mr O’Connell said.