Inquest into hospital death is scheduled for next spring

AN inquest into the death of an Omagh woman at the South West Acute Hospital more than eight years ago is expected to take place in the spring of 2025.

Tracy Antoinette Butler, whose address is given as Springlawn Nursing Home on the Dromore Road in Omagh, died on July 18, 2016, at the age of 35.

A preliminary hearing as part of the inquest proceedings was held on Tuesday.

A legal representative for the Western Health Trust told the hearing that they would be providing a detailed comment from doctors within the next few weeks and it would be in what they described as a ‘digestable format’.

In relation to the scope of what should be covered as part of the inquest, Nikki Rountree, solicitor for the next of kin, said that the family of Ms Butler had proposed an amendment to the scope. The hearing was told that this may focus on issues around communication.

Ms Rountree said that a ‘do not resusitate’ instruction was a live issue for the family.

But the Coroner said that, with the exception of answering the key statutory questions of where, when and how the deceased had died, she had reservations about broadening the scope of the inquest.

She acknowledged that families will have concerns around the death of a loved one, but said that her provisional view was that the scope of the inquest would not be extended.

The Coroner reassured the family that there would be a ‘thorough investigation’ as part of the inquest process.

She said that she was mindful of the fact that the family have waited a considerable length of time for the inquest to get underway.

She expressed confidence that the outstanding issues could be resolved prior to an inquest taking place in either March, April or May 2025.

Another Preliminary Hearing has been fixed for the afternoon of November 27.