The son of a Tarbert woman who died due to anaphylactic shock, after she had been prescribed penicillin despite being allergic to it, wants doctors and medical centres to review their file systems.
73-year-old Patricia Bewick of Shannon Breeze, Kilcolgan, Tarbert, died at University Hospital Kerry on July 17th 2019, after being brought there by ambulance, having gone into cardiac arrest at home.
An inquest into Ms Bewick’s death, held yesterday at Tralee Circuit Court, returned a verdict of anaphylactic shock due to an allergy to penicillin, which had been prescribed by staff at the Tarbert Medical Centre.
Doctors at the medical centre said they had not been aware of Ms Bewick’s allergy, nor had it been logged on their computerised file system, even though letters had been sent to the centre stating she had a penicillin allergy.
Dr Dominic Lehane, who runs Tarbert Medical Centre, said the practice has since made changes to how it deals with such letters.
Ms Bewick’s son, John, says he was not looking to blame anyone through the inquest, but simply get to the facts, and make sure this could not happen to anyone ever again.
Niamh Ní Mhurchú, joint managing partner at Callan Tansey Solicitors, which represented the Bewick family, said she hopes a review of the inquest system improves waiting times for families.
