An open verdict was recorded by the Dublin City Coroner on the death of a young woman who suffered an anaphylactic shock at lunchtime on her first day in a new job in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2022.
Aika Doheny (24), from Kilkenny, who had difficulties with allergies since she was a child, was brought by air ambulance from Tokyo to Dublin where she died in St James’s Hospital on October 20th.
The inquest was told she had allergies to dairy, nuts and eggs, and always carried an epipen, a device for administering adrenaline in response to an allergic reaction.
Garda Padraig Wickham from Kilmainham Garda station said he sought information about what happened to Aika from the police and other authorities in Tokyo, using Interpol and embassies in Dublin and Tokyo, but had not been successful.
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Ms Doheny’s mother, Mayumi, told coroner Aisling Gannon she travelled with her daughter to Japan in August 2022 to help Aika move in.
On September 1st, the day her daughter started in her new job, she got a call to say Aika, on her lunchbreak, had suffered an allergic reaction and was being taken to hospital.
When she got to the hospital Aika’s heart was still beating and she was put on life support.
“I wanted Aika to be brought back to Ireland. She was kept on life support and in a stable condition until her vitals were stable enough,” she said.
[ Death from anaphylaxis extremely rare and unfortunate, despite recent casesOpens in new window ]
An air ambulance brought them to Dublin on October 19th and Aika was brought to St James’s Hospital. The doctors said they would turn off her life support on October 21st.
“I decided that [the doctors] turn off the machine on the night of October 20th, because I felt Aika had been through enough.”
She said her daughter usually vomited if she consumed milk and the main question she would like answered was what it was that sent her into shock.
The coroner said medical documents sent with Aika from Tokyo indicated someone told emergency workers on Sept 1st that Aika collapsed after drinking coffee with milk in it.
Mayumi Doheny, speaking from the body of the court, said her daughter was 24 years old. “She never ordered milk for coffee, always soya.”
State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers said the postmortem indicated Ms Doheny died from complications following anaphylactic shock, but it was not possible to say what caused the young woman to go into shock.
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