![Damien Tansey]()
Damien Tansey
A young Donegal mother’s suicide could have been prevented had there been an ‘appropriate response’ from her doctor, a solicitor for her family has told an inquest.
Margaret Morahan 45, from Glassagh, Gaoth Dobhair took her own life on the 9th of January 2013.
Her husband John Morahan had been working for Largo Foods in Ashbourne, Co.Meath when he received an alarming text message from his wife.
In the text was an attachment e-mail in which she was sending to her former employers Aras nursing home in which she was threatening to self-harm.
Her husband immediately returned to Donegal gettting a flight from Dublin Airport to Carrickfinn.
He immediately went to Dr Anthony Delap’s practice. When he arrived at the surgery there was a significant queue and he was told he would have to wait to see Dr Delap.
The inquest was told that Mr Morahan waited over an hour before he eventually got to see Dr Delap and explained the situation with his wife. He also showed him the worrying text message she had sent.
He asked the doctor to ‘section’ his wife – sign her in for psychiatric care – as he seriously feared she was going to self-harm.
Dr Delap told Mr Morahan he had made the right decision in coming home and told him to return home to his wife and bring her into the surgery.
Mr Morahan returned home but his wife refused to come in. He then telephoned the surgery and left a message with Dr Delap’s secretary.
He then rang the emergency number several times but he never got a return call.
That night the couple went to bed but during the night Mr Morahan woke up and found his wife had gone. He got up to look for his wife and saw that the back door was wide open.
He went outside to look for his wife and went to his father’s house which was situated just 50 metres from their home house. It was there he found his wife who had unfortunately taken her own life.
Mrs Morahan had been suspended with full pay from her job as a nurse at Aras nursing home in Gweedore following alleged misconduct in March 2012.
A subsequent hearing into her suspension was launched and she was dismissed from her position.
She appealed the decision but again it was dismissed and she officially lost her job in December 2012.
The inquest was told the mother of three was left “utterly devastated” by the decision and was distraught she had lost her job.
Dr Delap told the inquest that Mrs Morahan had visited the surgery twice in 2012 visiting him once.
That was in November 2012, Dr Delap said.
“We discussed the difficulties she was having in work when she visited me,” he said.
“But I was unaware she had been dismissed from her job until her husband visited me on the 8th of January.
“She also never disclosed any details that she was suffering from depression.”
The inquest heard how Mrs Morahan was on a significant amount of medication prior to her death.
The manufacturers of some of the medication had indicated that anybody on such medication should be ‘monitored’ regularly.
Mrs Morahan had trouble sleeping and also suffered from chronic back pain the inquest was told.
It also heard how she was prescribed anti-depressants in 2007 following two miscarriages.
Dr Delap told the inquest that Mrs Morahan was on Cymbalta which is used to treat major depressive disorder and general anxiety disorder.
Cymbalta is also used to treat fibromyalgia (a chronic pain disorder), or chronic muscle or joint pain (such as low back pain and osteoarthritis pain) and that’s what she was using it for, Dr Delap told the court.
Damien Tansey responded by saying, “You’re aware she’s in trouble with her job, and had a history of depression. Would you not consider that as a trigger for depression and anxiety?”
It was also revealed that the dosage of Cymbalta was doubled prior to her death.
A text message she sent to a friend was read out in the court.
It read: “Doubled my dosage of medication to help me sleep, struggling to drag my carcass out of bed in this horrible weather, I think I misplaced my mojo.”
In his concluding statement Damien Tansey said: “This is a tragic event, John lost his wife, and now he and his three children are left to pick up the pieces. That is a challenge of gigantic proportions.
“I would urge you to hold the account given by John Morahan as compellingly truthful.
“It is clear that John Morahan told Dr Delap what the text contained and asked him to certify his wife to protect her from herself.
“There are real live dangers associated with the use of these drugs that were prescribed to Mrs Morahan.
“The manufacturers indicate that patients prescribed the medication must be monitored closely and this didn’t happen.
“Giving out prescriptions of these drugs ‘willy nilly’ for six months at a time is not good practice.
“It flies in the face of the instructions outlined on the product, patients should be monitored and caution should be exercised. This didn’t happen, and in fact the dosage was doubled.
“When someone asks the doctor for their wife to be committed that doctor should respond appropriately.
“What more could John Morahan have done on that day, he couldn’t do anymore.
“In my respectful opinion the verdict should be death by misadventure, that is the proper verdict when somebody is exposed to risk and suffers as a consequence of that risk.”
Solicitors representing Dr Delap concluded by saying, “Mrs Morahan was prescribed anti-depressants in 2008 for the last time and at no stage did she voice concerns about depression.
“She visited him two months before her death but never disclosed deatils of her depression
I’d asked you to accept Dr Delap’s evidence that she was on Cymbalta for two years due to chronic back pain.
“I’d ask you to accept the testimony given by the pathologist, the post mortem found no drugs in Mrs Morahan’s system and the verdict should be returned as suicide.
The inquest was adjourned until next Tuesday.
