Taking cocaine is ‘playing Russian roulette’, says State pathologist

Ms Hyde, of 188 Killeagh Gardens, Killeagh, Co Cork, had very small amounts of cocaine in her blood along with heroin and methadone.

Frank O’Connell, coroner for South and West Cork, said that death from cocaine was not dose dependent and small quantities could kill.

Ms Hyde had called her longtime friend, Patrick Hegarty, for a lift so she could collect medication for her ill husband on May 13, 2023.

She was “normal, perfect” when he collected her at Parnell Place in Cork that day and never said that she was feeling unwell, he told Midleton Coroner’s Court.

But when they approached the Lakeview roundabout outside Midleton “she suddenly closed her eyes and fell over”.

She was unresponsive and he drove straight to Midleton district hospital, which was about 10 minutes away in traffic.

Director of nursing, Grace Tabolo, came out and found Ms Hyde unresponsive in the front seat of a van. 

She and two other staff started chest compressions and used a defibrillator. 

Although the defibrillator instructed to provide a shock indicating some electrical activity, Ms Hyde was deceased when she reached the hospital, Dr Bolster said.

Sergeant Mark Ward read Mr Hegarty’s statement to Midleton Coroner’s court.

“I’m a friend of Lynne Hyde. We were friends for 10 to 15 years. We’d often go for drives and have the chats.”

When he was driving her that day, Ms Hegarty suddenly closed her eyes and “leaned over” to him. 

He shook her but there was no response so he brought her straight to hospital where medics tried to revive her.

If Ms Hyde had any illness, she would have told him, he said.

Dr Bolster said that an autopsy was carried out on May 31, 2023, at City Morgue Cork.

A “very low level” of cocaine was detected in her blood, at less than or equal to 0.025microgramme (ug) per millilitre (ml). Morphine from metabolised heroin was also detected at 0.29 ug/ml — 6-monoacetylmorphine.

Although no alcohol was detected in Ms Hyde’s system, cocaethaylene formed by mixing alcohol and codeine was detected as benzoylecgonine at 0.72 ug/ml.

Methadone used as a heroin substitute was also detected at 0.12 ug/ul.

“Cocaine is a well-recorded cause of sudden death,” Dr Bolster said.

Ms Hyde suffered cardiac arrests due to cocaine use, together with methadone and heroin use, she said.

Mr O’Connell said the unusual thing about cocaine is that severe damage from it is not dose related — the smallest amount can kill someone while a large amount can do no discernible damage.

“It’s Russian roulette,” Dr Bolster said.

Mr O’Connell said: “In situations like this, it is clear that no self-harm at all is intended but there certainly is a risk, which sometimes is not fully apparent. With poly drug use like this, it can correctly be described as death by misadventure.”

His verdict was that Ms Hyde died of acute cardiac arrest at the Lakeview roundabout due to cocaine use, in conjunction with methadone and heroin.

Her death was by misadventure, he ruled.