A man lay dead for up to five hours in an A&E waiting area before staff realised, an inquest has heard.
Brian Hamilton, 40, was found unresponsive – slumped forward on a bench with his face on his backpack – at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin on April 14 last year, after arriving there 12 hours earlier, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard.
Mr Hamilton’s family were contacted by the hospital and told that attempts to revive him had failed.
Yesterday, his brother Michael told of his astonishment upon arriving at the hospital and seeing Brian, who he said had been dead for a number of hours.
‘When I saw Brian, I was shocked. It was clear he had been dead for four to five hours as rigor mortis had set in. I was sure of this as I am a butcher by trade,’ Michael told the inquest.
Brian Hamilton (pictured), 40, lay dead for up to five hours in an A&E waiting area before staff realised, an inquest has heard. He was found unresponsive – stooped forward on a bench with his face on his backpack – at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin on April 14 last year, after arriving there 12 hours earlier, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard
Brian Hamilton, from Crumlin, in Dublin, was found unresponsive in the A&E at 3pm, the coroner’s court heard.
A couple noticed him slumped over while seated in the waiting area and alerted a nurse, who checked him and found him unresponsive.
Staff conducted CPR but he was pronounced dead at 3.51pm. Brian had spoken to security guard Robert Armstrong when he arrived at the hospital at 2.45am earlier that day.
‘He asked me what time the Luas [rail service] came back into service. Another patient interrupted us. He walked off in the direction of A&E,’ Mr Armstrong said.
Mr Hamilton’s family (above, at the inquest on Thursday) were contacted by the hospital and told that attempts to revive Brian had failed. His brother Michael told the inquest: ‘When I saw Brian, I was shocked. It was clear he had been dead for four to five hours as rigor mortis had set in. I was sure of this as I am a butcher by trade’
He watched him approach the reception desk at A&E, but there was no one there.
CCTV footage showed him take a seat in the waiting area, use the bathroom and return to a different spot in the waiting area, before the alarm was raised several hours later.
Michael Hamilton got a call from his sister at 3.30pm saying Brian was in hospital. The family were told attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
His sister Maria Eustace said Brian was the second youngest in the family and had been badly affected by the loss of his parents.
‘When Dad died in 2005, he took it really bad. He was also very close to Mam. She had breast cancer and Brian was always there for her. He took her death badly. It affected him terribly,’ she said.
Emergency department nurse Jonathan Joaquin was alerted by a couple who became concerned. ‘They asked me to check the man sitting there and I did. I tried to rouse him, he didn’t answer me, there was no response and I went inside to get help,’ he said.
Pictured, Tallaght Hospital. CCTV footage showed Brian Hamilton take a seat in the waiting area, use the bathroom and return to a different spot in the waiting area, before the alarm was raised several hours later
‘He was seated on the bench, he was stooped forward, his face was on his backpack. I didn’t see any signs of life.’
The nurse said people often entered the emergency department for shelter. ‘These people were being asked to register so that we can link them to the proper services they need to access,’ he said.
The coroner asked how regularly this happened and if people entered the A&E every night for shelter, and the nurse agreed that they did.
Moira Flahive, barrister for the family, asked if there was any protocol in place to identify individuals taking shelter that had not registered, but the nurse was unable to answer.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane adjourned the inquest to hear from two additional witnesses, including the hospital’s head of security and a hospital representative to outline what changes have been implemented since Mr Hamilton’s death.