Retiring Coroner reflects on a life dealing with death

The Coroner for Galway West closed the file on his final case this week as Dr Ciarán MacLoughlin retired after almost 36 years in the role.

Dr MacLoughlin, who retired from General Practice in Clifden over two years ago, estimates that he’s overseen the inquiries into up to 5,000 deaths, some of which have had an impact far outside the walls of Galway Coroner’s court.

During that time, he was at the helm as some of the country’s most high-profile deaths were investigated – including that of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old woman who died from sepsis after being refused an abortion at University Hospital Galway (UHG). He also concluded in January the longest inquest in the history of the State which ran for 14 days.

Reflecting on his time as Coroner, Dr MacLoughlin says he’s satisfied that the office had effected a number of positive changes.

“One of the ones that stands out was an elderly lady was walking across the street in Loughrea, before the bypass, and there was a logjam and she walked out in front of a lorry and the traffic moved. The lorry moved forward and she died,” he recalls.

Upon hearing the inquest into her death, he recommended that all trucks should be fitted with a mirror that enabled them to see in front of the cab.

Because of the number of European lorries on Irish roads, that change had to come from Europe and it was Minister Jim McDaid who pushed for it to be introduced throughout the EU, says Dr MacLoughlin, adding, “but it started in Loughrea”.

“We had an incident in Merlin Park where the lift short-circuited internally and the hospital went down, but the generator didn’t come on because it was an internal fault. If it was a fault outside, say from lightening or a power cut, the generator would automatically come on. There was a fatality as a result of that and what happened was all hospitals were checked all over the country to ensure this wouldn’t happen again,” he says.

Read the full interview in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie