{"id":461123,"date":"2026-05-22T03:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461123\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T03:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:17:09","slug":"family-of-man-given-accidental-overdose-at-co-clare-nursing-home-settle-action-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461123\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of man given accidental overdose at Co Clare nursing home settle action \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a man who was given an accidental overdose of medicine including two antipsychotic drugs at a Co Clare nursing home<\/a> has settled a High Court<\/a> action over his death.<\/p>\n

Along with his own medication, John Mee was given five other medicines on June 24th, 2021, at the Cahercalla Community Hospital, Ennis, Co Clare<\/a>, including two antipsychotic drugs, medication for heart pain, debilitating insomnia and an antidepressant which were meant for another patient.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s counsel Doireann O\u2019Mahony, instructed by solicitor Martin Kerrigan, told the High Court it was their case that the 71-year-old from Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, became increasingly unwell and drowsy but was not transferred to hospital for 18 hours.<\/p>\n

Counsel said they would say the \u201cdie was cast\u201d and Mee in hospital was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and later found to be in respiratory failure. He died on June 30th, 2021. Counsel said a breach of duty was admitted in the case.<\/p>\n

The board of directors of Cahercalla Community Hospital had, O\u2019Mahony added, this month issued a letter of apology to the Mee family.<\/p>\n

It said: \u201cWe apologise for the hurt and grief caused to John\u2019s family for incorrectly administering the medication of another patient to him at Cahercalla Community Hospital resulting in his death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside court, Mee\u2019s two sisters, Bernadette Mee and Sr Gabriel Margaret Mee, who had brought the case against Cahercalla Community Hospital Co Ltd, said their brother had chosen a nursing home \u201cthinking that would be the place he would get the ultimate care he needed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bernadette Mee, on behalf of the family, said it was \u201ca sad state of affairs that such a thing could happen in a caring institution\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the sadness of it. Yes, we are heartbroken. Nothing can bring him back but telling our story and sharing with others may help, I hope, to prevent a similar heartbreaking situation occurring again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said the case was not about claiming anything, but \u201cabout sharing the story and being heard and listened to\u201d. <\/p>\n

She said the apology does mean something. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have it in writing formally. It does mean something, it copper fastens it,\u201d Bernadette said.<\/p>\n

In the proceedings it was claimed the erroneous dispensing of medications placed Mee at increased risk of respiratory decline and was, it was claimed, ultimately the catalyst for his death.<\/p>\n

It was contended that substandard care had been provided to Mee and there was a failure to dispense medications safely and correctly.<\/p>\n

Mee, it was claimed, had been overdosed and there was a failure to appreciate the importance of his decreasing oxygen levels and increased drowsiness, particularly as he was an elderly man with several comorbidities.<\/p>\n

It was claimed he was allowed to remain unwell for about 18 hours before his eventual transfer to University Hospital Limerick.<\/p>\n

Noting the settlement and approving the division of the \u20ac35,000 mental distress solatium payment, Judge Paul Coffey extended his deepest sympathy to the Mee family and said it was a very sad and tragic case.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, the Limerick coroner in the case delivered a verdict of medical misadventure and said the medication error was a catalyst in the events that led to John Mee\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The inquest heard that \u201cextra checks\u201d were since put in place at the nursing home in respect of the administration of medication to residents, which included a \u201cphotograph\u201d of the resident beside their room number and medication chart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a man who was given an accidental overdose of medicine including two antipsychotic drugs at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15469,73,61,60,1396,43,22795],"class_list":["post-461123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-clare","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick","tag-news","tag-nursing-homes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}