An inquest jury in Tullamore concluded that a profoundly disabled girl died of natural causes after being given a powerful sedative by her mother during an epileptic seizure.
The verdict at Co Offaly Coroner's Court came more than two years after local GP Dr Bernadette Scully, 60, was found not guilty of the unlawful killing of her 11-year-old daughter Emily Barut.
The inquest had been told toxic and potentially fatal levels of chloral hydrate had been found in the girl's system during a post-mortem examination.
Emily was pronounced dead at the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore, on 15 September 2012 after being taken there by ambulance from her home at Emvale, Bachelor's Walk in the town.
In a statement read at the Offaly Coroner's Court today Dr Scully said Emily, her only child, who had microcephaly and severe epilepsy, had been unsettled for a number of nights prior to Friday 14 September, 2012.
After being put to bed at 9pm that night she had a severe seizure and was crying loudly from relentless pain.
The seizure was different from normal ones and she was drooling and in a panic. Dr Scully went to the kitchen and gave her 10mls of chloral hydrate in an attempt to comfort her.
There was no reduction after one dose and that "really panicked" Dr Scully and she gave her about 5mls more. About five minutes later, Emily went quiet and her face went blue.
Replying to the coroner, Raymond Mahon, Dr Scully said she had given the sedative in an attempt to stop the fit and it was unusual for the first dose not to settle her daughter.
Dr Scully's partner, Andrius Koslovskis, said he had slept in a separate room the night before Emily died and when he spoke to the child's mother on the Saturday morning she was exhausted.
He left that morning and returned home after 2.30pm and Dr Scully went for a sleep. At about 9pm, he went to Emily's room and found white foam and saliva on her and noticed she was cold.
He called out to Dr Scully and shook her, but could not wake her, so he called an ambulance.
The inquest heard that paramedics found Dr Scully unconscious, but breathing, but they could not resuscitate Emily.
In her evidence, State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said Emily had been disabled from birth and had severe physical and mental disabilities.
Dr Cassidy said she appeared to have been extremely well cared for and was developing normally despite her disability.
Nonetheless, she was at risk of a potentially fatal seizure at any time and there was ongoing damage to her brain due to repeated seizures.
The post-mortem showed that chloral hydrate was present at a level within which fatalities could occur and while there was no evidence of asphyxia, the girl could have suffocated in bed if she had been in a face down position.
While the chloral hydrate level would be sufficient alone to cause death, death was also due to the interaction of the girl's chronic condition, her microcephaly, her ongoing epilepsy and acute inflammation of her lungs.
Dr Cassidy agreed with counsel for Dr Scully, Gerard Groarke, that Emily could have built up a tolerance to chloral hydrate and while the level was toxic, death was not just simply due to the sedative.
Mr Mahon told the jury they had three options for verdicts, death by misadventure if they were of the opinion the sedative alone had caused the death, death by natural causes if they believed the seizure alone had been fatal, or an open verdict, if they thought it was caused by both chloral hydrate and her existing conditions.
"Dr Scully was clear that the purpose of giving the chloral hydrate was to ease her symptoms," said the coroner.
After a short deliberation, the jury said its verdict was that Emily Barut had died from natural causes due to her extreme medical condition.
In December 2016, a jury at the Central Criminal Court found Dr Scully not guilty of the manslaughter of Emily.
At the trial, the GP denied an allegation that she was guilty of an act of gross negligence involving the administration of an excessive quantity of chloral hydrate that killed her daughter.
