Widower, 89, killed in hospital ward attack
Man, 32, arrested after assault with Zimmer frame in front of patients
AN 89-YEAR-OLD widower died after he was violently attacked by a fellow patient with a Zimmer frame in a hospital ward.
Farmer and grandfather-of-eight Matthew Healy was attacked in front of patients in a general ward at Mercy University Hospital (MUH), Cork, shortly after 5am yesterday.
The attack was witnessed by shocked patients in a six-bed ward and heroic staff rushed to his aid after being alerted by shouts and screams.
The hospital staff reportedly intervened to try to stop the attack on the pensioner.
It is believed it took several staff members to drag the attacker – reported to be a fellow in-patient – away from Mr Healy’s bed.
The Garda Armed Support Unit was called and arrested a male patient, who was being questioned last night.
Mr Healy, from Berrings, Co. Cork, was pronounced dead at the scene and the ward was cordoned off to allow for a full forensic and technical examination.
A postmortem will be carried out by Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster.
The 32-year-old man who was arrested is from Churchfield, on the north side of Cork city.
The men were not known to each other beforehand.
Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Looney said the people of Berrings were saddened and shocked by the death of Mr Healy, whom he described as a ‘pure gentleman’.
Mr Healy was recently widowed, having buried his wife Delia in the first week of the New Year.
Mr Looney said: ‘He was a very quiet man. The last place you would think something like this would happen is in a hospital.
‘When you go in to hospital you think you are safe in your bed.
‘The people of Berrings are devastated. The family are here for generations. They are hugely respected. They are lovely people and he was a thorough gentleman, a pure gentleman. His wife is only dead a few weeks.’
Tragedy previously struck the family four decades ago when Mr Healy and his wife Delia – who had two adult sons and a daughter – lost their daughter in an accident at a young age.
Meanwhile, long time advocate for the elderly in Cork, Paddy O’Brien, offered his condolences to Mr Healy’s family.
He said: ‘‘I just heard what happened on the news. I sympathise with the family of the man on this tragedy. For a man to go in to hospital only to lose his life. I don’t know what to say.
‘The Mercy is a fine hospital. I spent a period there myself in 2020. The care I got there was excellent. This is an awful, desperate tragedy.
‘That poor man went in hospital with some illness and nobody could expect a tragedy like this to happen.
‘My thoughts are also with the family of the other man involved. He also has a family. My thoughts are also with the staff at the hospital as they are in shock.’
Mercy University Hospital confirmed that Gardaí are investigating a fatal incident involving a man in his late 80s.
‘The hospital is providing counselling services to patients and staff affected by the incident,’ it said, adding that staff were ‘saddened and shocked at the tragic and unexpected death of an
‘He was a thorough gentleman’ ‘To go into hospital only to lose his life’
elderly patient in an incident in the hospital today’.
The man who was arrested was being held for questioning at the Bridewell Garda Station in Cork city under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be detained for up to 24 hours.
An incident room has been set up at the Bridewell Garda Station and a Garda family liaison officer has been appointed to help Mr Healy’s family, who were told about the deeply shocking attack on their beloved father early yesterday morning.
The hospital expressed its ‘deepest condolences’ to the devastated family, relatives and friends of Mr Healy.
Gardaí are not looking for anyone else in relation to the death.