Coroner agrees to conduct second inquest into death of Limerick man
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A second inquest is to be conducted into the death of a Limerick man who passed away after being treated at University Hospital Limerick.
Mike Daly's death was previously the subject of a garda investigation and his legal team believe it may be the first time in the history of the State that a coroner has agreed to open a second inquest into the same death.
The inquest, which opens next Monday, is expected to run for four days, and will hear expert witness testimony from former Chief State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy.
Mike Daly died on April 7, 2010. He had been treated for rectal pain and bleeding in the preceding two years and he had a number of surgical procedures carried out in the Midwestern Regional Hospital. A 2012 inquest found that the 65-year-old had died of cardiac failure due to natural causes.
Mr Daly's family appealed the verdict and after a four-year campaign, led by his son Mike Daly Jnr, Limerick coroner John McNamara agreed to open a second inquest.
UL Hospitals Group had to apologise to the family after it emerged that two potentially significant documents were missing from Mr Daly's medical records.
The hospital group described it as an "oversight" and wrote to Mike Daly Jnr that there was "no deliberate attempt to withhold any of your late father’s records".
The existence of extra documents emerged in October 2016 when Mr Daly Jnr was sent an electronic version of his father's health records and he spotted them. Their emergence is understood to be one of the reasons why the coroner agreed to open a new inquest.
The second inquest was due to be held in 2017 but was postponed after gardaí launched an investigation into Mr Daly Snr’s death. An incident room was established at Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick city where a team of senior detectives assigned to the investigation, and Marie Cassidy, was called in to review the case.
A file was sent to the DPP and it is understood gardaí are due to meet the Daly family again after the conclusion of next week’s inquest.