Widow calls for better cardiac care in south east

THE widow of a man who died while being transferred to Cork because there is no 24/7 cath lab in Waterford has urged the Government to improve cardiac services in the south east.

Bernadette Power made her plea after an inquest heard that her husband Thomas died due to natural causes.

The death of the newly married father-to-be became central to the campaign for a full-time cath lab at University Hospital Waterford.

He died last June while he was being rushed to Cork University Hospital by ambulance. However, it emerged during the inquest that Mr Power, a farmer, had actually suffered a so-called ‘silent’ heart attack at least three days before he entered Waterford hospital on June 18.

In such cases, people suffer heart attacks but do not feel pain until days later. By the time they present for treatment with chest pains, their heart is very badly damaged already, and treatments for heart attack can either fail entirely or make matters worse. Experts told the court in Cork city that even open heart surgery undertaken within minutes of Mr Power suffering a rupture to his already damaged heart wall on the way to CUH would have had a ‘dismal’ chance of success.

Outside Cork City Coroner’s Court after the inquest, Mrs Power’s lawyer read out a statement, remarking: Loss: Bernadette and Thomas ‘I am relieved to know what caused my husband Tom’s death after many months of wondering. I urge the Government to improve cardiac services in the south east and to reconsider the provision of a second permanent cath lab at University Hospital Waterford.’

Earlier, Mrs Power, who gave birth to the couple’s son in November, had revisited at the inquest her final moments on June 18 last year with her husband. Mrs Power was advised to leave Waterford for Cork University Hospital ahead of her husband and she recalled: ‘When I left the hospital, I thought I was going to see Tom alive in Cork.’

Cardiologist Dr Ross Murphy told the inquest: ‘The heart attack happened at least three days previously... The late presentation [to hospital] is deeply unfortunate.’

He also said it was ‘entirely appropriate’ that Mr Power had not received the blood-clotting drugs he would have received had he been treated in a cath lab. ‘I don’t think a cath lab would have affected [the outcome],’ he said.

‘Dismal’ chance of success