Crash teen died of ‘very rare’ bleeding RYAN (19) HAD SURVIVED ROAD COLLISION

A YOUTH who had “a miraculous recovery” from severe brain and spinal injuries sustained in a road traffic collision died two months later in hospital.

Ryan Doyle (19) from Cornacreeva, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, was a backseat passenger in a silver Volkswagen Golf which failed to take a bend on a road at Drumreilly, Ballinamore on September 17, 2016.

An inquest into Mr Doyle’s death heard he suffered major bleeding over two months later in an “exceptionally rare” medical event while a doctor was removing a tube from his airways in Beaumont Hospital on November 22, 2016.

Mr Doyle went into cardiac arrest and died a short time later.

A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court last week heard that Mr Doyle was found “hanging from the back window of the vehicle” before he was brought by ambulance to Cavan General Hospital and subsequently transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin because of the severity of his injuries.

Consultant neurosurgeon Stephen McNally said scans had shown severe abnormalities in the patient’s brain, while he also suffered a fracture of the spine as well as significant injuries to his lungs.

Glass

The inquest heard two operations to remove a piece of glass from his lungs were unsuccessful.

Mr McNally said Mr Doyle had done “far better and extremely well” than medical staff had predicted on his admission to hospital.

The inquest heard a tracheostomy – an opening in the neck to allow a tube to be inserted in the windpipe – was performed on Mr Doyle in order to take him off a ventilator.

A consultant anaesthetist, James O’Rourke, told counsel for Beaumont Hospital, Conor Halpin SC, that what happened was extremely rare and only occurred in seven of every 1,000 cases.

He said all medical staff at Beaumont had done their utmost to prevent what he described as “a terrible tragedy.”

The coroner, Clare Keane, heard a postmortem showed Mr Doyle died as a result of hypovolemic shock and bleeding as a result of a fistula between an artery and his windpipe arising from injuries sustained in the crash.

Based on the evidence, Dr Keane returned a verdict of medical misadventure.

In a statement on behalf of the Doyle family, solicitor John McNulty said they were pleased with the conclusion.