Guest died at Clare hotel wedding reception after steak lodged in his throat

A 67-year old wedding guest died at a wedding reception at a west Clare hotel last Christmas after a piece of steak got lodged in his throat during the main course of the wedding meal, an inquest has heard.

At the Co Clare Coroner’s Court in Ennis today, Clare Coroner, Isobel O’Dea found that Brendan Glynn died as a result of impaction of the larynx at the Armada Hotel at Spanish Point on Friday, December 22nd last. Ms O’Dea extended sympathy to the “large number” of people in attendance at the inquest and to those who witnessed Mr Glynn’s sudden death at the wedding on what she said “should have been a joyous occasion”.

Ms O’Dea also paid tribute to the off-duty nurses and paramedics attending the wedding who tried unsuccessfully to revive Mr Glynn – who was an electrician from the nearby seaside resort Lahinch.

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John Murphy was sitting beside Mr Glynn at the meal and in a deposition told the inquest that “I would have been talking away to Brendan seconds before this happened and he seemed fine”. Mr Murphy said: “Brendan had been having beef and did not give any impression that he had been in any difficulty in any way.”

Mr Murphy said that at the meal, Mr Glynn “seemed in good form” and “was fine chatting away to me”. The two had three pints together before the meal at the hotel bar. Mr Murphy said that during the meal his wife, Geraldine “alerted me to the fact that something seemed to be wrong with Brendan”.

He said: “I looked over and there appeared to be a liquid coming from the side of his mouth.” He said that Brendan “wasn’t moving and Brendan didn’t acknowledge me when I spoke to him”. Mr Murphy said: “His eyes were open – I used a cloth to clean the side of Brendan’s mouth. The whole table at the wedding knew something was wrong at this stage.

“Brendan just sat there motionless and unresponsive.” Mr Murphy said there were off-duty nurses and paramedics attending the wedding “and they tried to help Brendan”. He said: “They tried to free up any food that was lodged and started CPR.”

Ennistymon based Advanced Paramedic, Pat McCarthy said that he reached the Armada Hotel at around 8.05pm and found an unresponsive male who had been choking at a wedding at the hotel. Mr McCarthy said that CPR was in progress in the reception area of the hotel but that the male had no pulse, was unresponsive and not breathing.

Mr McCarthy said that he removed “a large chunk of beef from his airway” and Mr Glynn was pronounced dead at 8.45pm. Garda Colm Collins said that the response time of the ambulance was 15 minutes.

In her post mortem findings, Asst State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster said that the history shows that “a number of large chunks of steak obstructing the larynx were removed by medical personnel from the airways” of Mr Glynn. Dr Bolster said that Mr Glynn “had been eating steak, his face went blue and he slumped over”.

Dr Bolster said that her main findings is the cause of death are consistent with ‘cafe coronary’ or impaction of food in the Larynx Dr Bolster said that café coronary “is a term used to describe a sudden collapse of healthy subjects during meals in the absence of any sign of asphyxia, respiratory distress, or neurological symptoms”.

In her post mortem report, Dr Bolster said: “One of the main problems with this is that even when witnessed, it is often confused with myocardial infarction due to the absence of asphyxia symptoms. This can lead to misdiagnosis and potential delays in patients’ treatment that can eventually have fatal outcomes.”

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