Katie (27) died of lung clots after panic attack diagnosis
DISCHARGE FROM HOSPITAL DAYS BEFORE DEATH
A WOMAN with shortness of breath and heart palpitations died in hospital from lung blood clots four days after being discharged with a panic attack diagnosis, an inquest heard.
Katie Doyle (27), a recruitment executive, passed away at Beaumont Hospital on January 4, 2021 after suffering a pulmonary embolism.
Dublin District Coroner’s Court yesterday heard she had attended the hospital’s emergency department four days earlier on New Year’s Eve with complaints of heart palpitations and a shortness of breath but had been discharged on the same date after a doctor believed her symptoms were caused by panic attack.
Recording a verdict of medical misadventure, coroner Clare Keane, said the hospital’s protocol of carrying out a certain type of blood test on patients suspected of possibly having a pulmonary embolism had not been followed in Ms Doyle’s case.
The deceased’s mother, Susan Doyle, told the hearing that her daughter had no history of ever suffering panic attacks.
Ms Doyle said Katie had complained on New Year’s Eve that she had heart palpitations and difficulty breathing and that she had been referred to Beaumont Hospital by her GP. The inquest heard that the deceased was discharged from the hospital’s emergency department and given a bag to blow in if she had recurring symptoms.
She recalled asking her daughter if she was happy to go home and outlined how Katie, from Kelly Park, Lusk, Co Dublin, was always happy to follow the advice of doctors.
Ms Doyle told the coroner that it was the first time in her life that her daughter had not followed their tradition of going outside their house to ring in the new year with a cowbell and horn.
She said: “She didn’t do anything. She wasn’t feeling right.”
Bang
Ms Doyle then described how she found Katie collapsed on the floor next to her bed on January 3, 2021 after hearing a bang coming from her room. She recalled how the last words her daughter spoke to her were: “I’m scared.”
The inquest heard that the deceased was showing no signs of life by the time an ambulance crew arrived at her home and she was pronounced dead the following day in Beaumont after efforts to resuscitate her failed.
In reply to questions from her counsel, Liam Bell BL, Ms Doyle said her daughter was “very loving and very kind.”
Ms Doyle said her daughter, who was studying for a master’s degree in human resource management, “wanted to help people – she wanted to make a difference.”
Jonathan Oettle, a senior house officer who examined Ms Doyle in Beaumont, said the only sign she had shown of a possible pulmonary embolism was a fast heartbeat which he believed could be attributed to the “white coat” effect of being examined by a doctor.
A consultant in emergency medicine at Beaumont, Peadar Gilligan, confirmed that the hospital’s protocol was for a D-Dimer test to be performed for patients assessed as being at a low risk of having a pulmonary embolism if a doctor was “clinically concerned.”
Dr Gilligan said that medical records about Ms Doyle were short because of the volume of work in the hospital’s emergency department as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.
Ms Doyle’s solicitor, Dermot McNamara, said it was his client’s intention to initiate High Court proceedings against Beaumont Hospital.