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Family's 'roars of sadness' after mother's death post-surgery at Galway Clinic
🇮🇪 Ireland /Health & Science

Family's 'roars of sadness' after mother's death post-surgery at Galway Clinic

From Irish Times · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • A family expressed "tears and roars of sadness" following the death of Bridget Conroy days after heart surgery at Galway Clinic.
  • Conroy, 71, died on January 29, 2023, at University Hospital Galway after suffering three cardiac arrests post-surgery.
  • An inquest heard that the clinic may have lacked necessary equipment and on-call staff to manage complications during her recovery.

A family's profound grief was palpable at an inquest into the death of Bridget Conroy, who passed away four days after undergoing heart surgery at The Galway Clinic in January 2023. Her husband, Matty Conroy, described the family's "tears and roars of sadness and disbelief and horror" following the 71-year-old mother of 10's death.

tears and roars of sadness and disbelief and horror

— Simon Mills (counsel for Dr Gordon Pate)Mills described the family's reaction to Bridget Conroy's death.

Bridget Conroy died on January 29, 2023, at University Hospital Galway. She had undergone heart surgery at The Galway Clinic on January 25, 2023. In the early hours of January 26, she suffered three separate cardiac arrests and was subsequently transferred to University Hospital Galway. The inquest heard that concerns about her heart arose during her recovery from an unrelated procedure.

apologise from the outset

— Simon Mills (counsel for Dr Gordon Pate)Mills conveyed Dr. Gordon Pate's wish to apologize for Conroy's death.

During the inquest, counsel for Dr. Gordon Pate, who operated on Conroy, offered an apology for her death. The court was informed that Pate had inserted stents to stabilize Conroy after a suspected artery tear during the procedure. However, he did not perform an intravascular ultrasound to fully assess the internal bleeding. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, her husband was only able to see her for 15 minutes after the surgery.

a time bomb ready to go off at any time, like a grenade, and it did go off with catastrophic consequences

— Damian Tansey (counsel for the Conroy family)Tansey described the emergency cardiac care at The Galway Clinic on the night of Conroy's deterioration.

Counsel for the Conroy family characterized the out-of-hours emergency cardiac care at The Galway Clinic that night as "a time bomb ready to go off at any time, like a grenade, and it did go off with catastrophic consequences." Dr. Pate acknowledged that The Galway Clinic lacked the required equipment and personnel to manage Conroy's condition that night. He also admitted that his decision not to use the intravascular ultrasound was "an oversight." The inquest continues to examine the circumstances surrounding Conroy's death and the adequacy of the care provided.

The Galway Clinic did not have the required equipment or personnel to deal with Conroy’s condition on the night.

— Dr Gordon PatePate acknowledged the clinic's limitations in handling Conroy's condition.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Irish Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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