HSE to meet with organ donor’s wife

THE HSE have said they will meet with the widow of an Ennis man who told of her “upset” that hospital staff at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick did not know where her husband’s remains were after his organs were removed for donation.

An inquest into the death of Joe Connery, aged 65, from Dalcassian Park, Ennis, but was originally from Garryowen in Limerick, was held recently. Mr Connery died after sustaining head injuries in December of last year. Limerick Coroner’s Court was told Mr Connery had donated organs and that when the hospital was contacted after the transplant, there was confusion about the whereabouts of the remains. The coroner informed the family to contact hospital management about their concerns.

Speaking to The Clare Champion this week, Mary Connery said her family had been very upset by the incident. “The night before the operation for his organs to be donated, we were told there was no point in staying because it would be going on through the night and that they would ring us the next day about when to collect Joe’s body. We got no phonecall so I rang and the only place I could think of to ring was intensive care. The nurse there was gobsmacked and said he’s not here anymore, he is gone out of here. I said gone where, did ye lose him?” she said.

The family were contacted shortly afterwards and told to go to the morgue to formally identify the body before it could be taken from the hospital. Mrs Connery recalled, “Dr John O’Dea, who was very good to my husband and a very nice man, was very apologetic and he said there was a mix-up. He said unfortunately we would have to come back and identify the body before it would be released. I walked into this place, which I presume was the morgue and it nearly killed me to go in there. I thought, ‘Jesus Christ what is he doing here’. If I hadn’t rang the hospital, how long would he have been there on his own? It was very upsetting for me. We just weren’t kept informed, at the time we were all in shock, it’s only hitting me now about the situation,” she said.

She confirmed the family are in the process of writing to hospital management outlining their concerns. She said she wants to meet with the HSE to discuss what has happened and said she hopes no other family have to go through this. “They should sit down with us and go through the whole thing of what happened. We are not out to gain something from his death because that would defy the purpose of the good he did by donating organs and the three people living now. He thought it was a marvellous thing the way they could save people’s lives and the miracles that could be done with transplants. He was donating blood all his life since he was 18 and his father before that.”

A spokesperson for the HSE, when contacted by The Clare Champion stated, “The body was not lost. The hospital apologise to the family for the apparent breakdown in communication and express its gratitude for their generosity of spirit in agreeing to organ donation. We look forward to meeting Mrs Connery to discuss all the issues with her personally.”