Darren Coleman woke one morning in October 2020 to discover his wife and their infant son had died.
The body of Darren Coleman’s wife Nicola Byrne – a 34-year-old paediatric nurse from Ballina, Co Mayo – was found off the M50 Westlink bridge in the early hours of October 22, 2020.
When he was woken a short time later by gardaí who called to the couple’s home at Shackleton Way, Lucan, Co Dublin, he discovered their seven-month-old son, Henry, in an unresponsive state in a spare bedroom.
The baby boy was pronounced dead shortly after being brought to Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin.
Darren Coleman. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
An inquest subsequently found that the tragic deaths if the concerns of medical staff about her mental health had been shared with her husband
Just a month after his wife Nicola had died by suicide, he received a phone call from someone at the Crumlin hospital informing him that the toxicology report for his late son Henry was complete.
Mr Coleman was then asked what should happen to the organs of his seven-month old infant son.
“They said I could incinerate them or I could bury Henry with them, which would mean digging his body back up again,” Mr Coleman has revealed in an interview with the Irish Times.
“And they asked me to let them know early next week. That was it. I went back into the class and went on with work.
“I rang back next week, because I wasn’t going to dig up his body.
Nicola Keane and her husband Darren Coleman. Photo: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin.
News in 90 Seconds – Tuesday, August 5th
“Maybe they didn’t know I was back at work but these are personal things they’re talking about. It should’ve been a letter asking me to come in to discuss, or they could’ve called the Garda liaison and she could’ve called over and told me.”
Mr Coleman went on to say that he felt “no empathy or care” had been shown to him by the health authorities.
He also stated that his late wife had been “crying out for help” but did not receive the support that she required.
In 2023, Mr Coleman told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court that he had endured a three-year wait as “the only member of my family alive to speak” to voice his concerns about the care his wife had received for post-natal depression and the lack of information he was given by her doctors about her condition.
Evidence was heard that Ms Keane told doctors that she was concerned that she might “do something” because of her son’s irritability and her fears they were not bonding, although she repeatedly denied any intention of suicide or harming her son.
Medical records showed Ms Keane had told a psychologist at the hospital that she had damaged her son who was “botched” but nobody would believe her and nothing could be done.
Mr Coleman believed he should have been informed that his wife’s medication had been increased twice around a month before her death as well as about any possible side-effects and that doctors had noted that she had “delusional beliefs and depressive episodes.”
“To read about this after their deaths has hurt me so much that I will never recover from it,” said Mr Coleman at the hearing two years ago.
The inquest’s jury went on to return a majority 6-1 verdict of medical misadventure in relation to Ms Keane’s death.
Mr Coleman sued Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and the HSE over the circumstances leading to his wife and son’s death but the legal action was settled in 2024.