A Belfast coroner is to ask Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer whether
a medical device investigated after the death of a young mum just hours
after giving birth is still in widespread use across our hospitals.
Speaking at a preliminary inquest into the death of 28-year-old Janet Brown,
coroner John Leckey said he intended to write to Dr Michael McBride at the
Department of Health to find out if a device which administers morphine is
still being used in hospitals across the province.
Mr Leckey said his aim was to hold a full inquest into the Co Londonderry
woman’s death around November and he expects it to last at least a
week.
Mrs Brown died at Antrim Area Hospital in September 2006 just hours after
giving birth to her baby son.
A pathologist's report later revealed that the Magherafelt woman had died as
a result of “morphine intoxication”, which means that she
received too much of the drug.
Mrs Brown gave birth to a healthy baby boy by caesarean section just after
4pm on September 12, 2006.
After returning to her ward she was fitted with a medical device known as a
patient controlled analgesia (PCA), a small pump which allows patients to
self administer and control morphine dosage.
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