The family of a 25 year old nurse who died by suicide in the mental health unit of University Hospital Galway have said they still have serious questions about the circumstances surrounding her death.
The High Court was told that the family of Tara Coyne have settled their legal action against the hospital.
The hospital previously apologised to the family for failing to take remedial action to address a suicide risk in the unit after another patient died five months previously.
Ms Coyne had moved to London to train as a nurse in 2014, when she was 19 years old. She began to suffer from depression and had attended a GP.
In June 2020, following an incident at work, she took time off and returned to Ireland. She expressed thoughts of self harm and was admitted to the mental health unit in University Hospital Galway on 14 July that year.
Her mother, Geraldine, dropped off some possessions to the front door that evening and waved to her daughter through the window. Covid-19 restrictions meant she was not allowed in. Within an hour, her daughter was dead.
The hospital said that Ms Coyne was observed just before 8.30pm in her bedroom. But eight minutes later, it said, she was found in her bathroom without a pulse.
The inquest was told the bathroom door had been identified as a risk in relation to suicide after another patient died at the unit five months earlier.
The hospital apologised to the Coyne family for failing to take remedial action in relation to the doors in a more timely fashion.
Today, the family settled their legal action against the Health Service Executive for an undisclosed amount.
Mr Justice Paul Coffey said it was a heartbreaking case and he expressed his deepest sympathy to the family, saying no words could comfort them for what had happened.
Outside court, Ms Coyne's sister, Lisa, accompanied by her father Noel, mother Geraldine, Ms Coyne’s boyfriend, Alex Cowen, and the family’s solicitor, Ciarán Damien Tansey, said they could not understand how Tara had been placed on only medium frequency observations and was dead within five and a half hours of being admitted.
Lisa Coyne said the family had serious questions about the timeframe provided by the hospital authorities at the inquest and the length of time it took for Tara to be transferred to the hospital’s resuscitation unit.
She said they wished it had not taken months for the risks at the hospital to be removed. She also said that, even after her sister’s death, it had still taken four days to remove the doors involved.
In the months that followed, she said, the family received an invoice from the hospital for €80 which had been generated six days after her sister’s death.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Lisa Coyne also said the family had not received the hospital’s final review into her sister’s death until more than two years after it had been completed.
She said they had lost the heart of their family and Tara’s boyfriend, Alex, had lost his beautiful girlfriend.
She described Tara as a wonderful person who brought so much love and joy to everyone she knew.
She said the family were broken beyond repair and they hoped no other family would be put through what had happened to them.
