Inquest recalls tragedy of man who fell through the cracks

Date Published: 13-Nov-2008

A CONNEMARA man who was deaf spent the last few hours of his life among strangers in a city he rarely visited – and never on his own – a Galway inquest heard.

Sixty one year old Sean Flaherty of 29 The Cottages, Tullaboheen, Clifden died on the night of February 27 last on the Moycullen road as he walked home from a hospital visit.

His family hadn’t known that Seanie, as he was known locally, had been referred to the A&E department for a shoulder injury sustained in a fall the previous day at the local primary school where he worked as a caretaker.

He lived on his own and, when he was referred from his local doctor’s surgery, he had to be brought to UHG by taxi, paid for by the HSE. As it happened on the day, his own GP wasn’t there and he was seen by a locum.

During the course of a four and a half hour inquest, all of these factors would be relayed like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and when put together, it would show how on the day, Seanie fell victim to the system, one that – according to the Flaherty family solicitor – had let him down; not intentionally but because of a lack of protocol that didn’t take into consideration the man’s disability.

In fact, it was a series of unfortunate incidents that contributed one way or another to his tragic death on a busy stretch of road as he made his way on foot on the fifty mile journey to his home.

The inquest concluded that ….

Meanwhile the Mayor of Galway and fellow Clifden native…..

For full reports see pages 1 and 6 of this week’s Tribune