An inquest into the death of a two-year-old boy was adjourned yesterday after a legal representative for the family called for a change to the legislation which restricts the coroner to calling just two medical witnesses in any one case. One of these witnesses must be the pathologist.
The Dublin city coroner will resume the inquest on November 9th after considering submissions made yesterday.
Some 23 medical clinicians were involved in the care of Pierce Nowlan (2), Carrigmore Green, Saggart, Co Dublin, at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, when he died during a routine operation linked to his condition as a haemophiliac.
Pierce died last October when he was admitted to have a device fitted into a vein which would have allowed the regular injection into his blood stream of factor eight, a clotting agent. During the procedure an artery was punctured as surgeons sought access to the vein where the device was to be fitted. Pierce bled from the one-millimetre needle hole in his artery into the left side of his chest. The oxygen flow to his brain was adversely impacted and he died as a result.
Yesterday's hearing was a resumption of the inquest adjourned in July when the coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said he needed more time to study the "complicated" evidence.
The complexity of the issues was exacerbated because of the legislation permitting only two medical witnesses.
Raymond Bradley, lawyer for the Nowlan family, yesterday called for a further adjournment, saying that until legislation was introduced allowing Dr Farrell to call more than two medical witnesses, a certain verdict "cannot be delivered".
He said doctors involved in the case had given "conflicting versions of events". It was his "fundamental obligation as a coroner", Mr Bradley told Dr Farrell, "to allay rumour and suspicion". Given the "scope of the evidence available", he said, any verdict could only "add to suspicion and rumour".
"It would be wrong, it would be unjust for the family, and even for society, for a verdict to be delivered [unless more medical witness could clarify issues]."
Emily Egan, the lawyer representing the hospital, said her client agreed with Dr Farrell's thoughts on the limitations placed on him by the Coroners' Act.
"However, we submit there is an obligation on the coroner to conclude the inquest as speedily as possible." She said there were frequently complex medical cases before the court and it was "unworkable and infeasible" to adjourn this one "until such a time as new legislation is brought forward".
Dr Farrell said he was taken by surprise by the submissions. They raised "very important issues" he said and he would reserve his position on them.
