By Niamh O'Donoghue - Independent.ie

Sunday June 27 2010

An inquest has heard how a nursing home patient's death was contributed to by an injury from either a fall or an alleged assault.

Emily Whittle, 94, was in the care of Mill Lane Manor in Naas, Co Kildare, last September when her walking aid was taken by a fellow patient and she received a blunt-force trauma to her head.

Last week, Kildare County Coroner's Court heard that a fall and a head injury contributed to Ms Whittle's death at Naas General Hospital five weeks later.

"She informed me that a man had punched her on the right-hand side of the face," said Dr Victor Kong in a deposition read to the court.

Dr Kong, who assessed Mrs Whittle at the hospital following the incident on September 9, 2009, said the elderly woman was suffering when she arrived at the hospital. "The patient was in a great deal of pain and discomfort," he added.

Nurse Laura Conway, who was on duty at Naas General Hospital the day Mrs Whittle was admitted, said she asked the patient what happened. "She said a man hit her," Ms Conway said.

Deputy State Pathologist Khalid Jabbar, who conducted a post mortem on the body of Mrs Whittle, said the elderly woman had suffered a head trauma. He concluded that the main cause of death was heart failure but that among other major contributing factors were blunt-force trauma to the head, a hip injury and osteoporosis.

"The heart failure is the main cause of death but it (the incident) would have added to the strain on her heart," he said.

Mill Lane Manor does not contest that Mrs Whittle's Zimmer frame was taken from her. What is in contention is whether she was hit on the head by another patient prior to the fall or if her head hit a handrail or another object.

However, the pathologist could not confirm if the blunt force trauma was caused by an assault or a fall, as there are handrails in the nursing home's corridor which Mrs Whittle's head may have struck.

Mrs Whittle, of St Agnes Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12, needed the aid of a Zimmer frame after breaking her hip in a fall in March 2009 from which the court heard she had made a good recovery.

On the day of the fall Jimmy Whittle said his mother was sitting in a wheelchair with her head bandaged and he was told a third party was involved in the incident. He asked to see the nursing managers but they were unavailable as they were both away.

Mill Lane Manor manager Sinead Cromley told the court that she and assistant manager John Dunne were at a conference in Donegal on the day of the incident but that it was rare they would be both simultaneously absent.

Nursing home staff gave evidence that a man had taken her walking frame but told the court that Mrs Whittle never said, at any time, that someone had struck her on the head. However, many said Mrs Whittle told them "the big man took my walking frame".

Counsel for the Whittle family, Libby Charlton, asked the coroner, Professor Denis Cusack, to consider making a number of recommendations, including that CCTV cameras be put in the nursing home so that there is no ambiguity in the future.

She also said a staff nurse was not a sufficient person to manage a nursing home and that some patients needed more supervision.

The coroner is expected to give his verdict next week.

Mill Lane Manor is one of five nursing homes in the country owned by Brindley Manor Nursing Homes, which has its headquarters in Co Donegal.

- Niamh O'Donoghue

Sunday Independent