Boy (14) died a day before his scheduled second Pfizer shot

Coroner opens inquiry into death of Joseph McGinty, Achill Island

A 14 year old student suffered a cardiac arrest and died in an ambulance on Achill Island, an inquest heard. Joseph McGinty of The Valley, Achill Island, Co Mayo collapsed at home on the morning of September 13 2021. His mother Patricia McGinty told an inquest into his death that she heard him ‘stumbling around’ at 3am that morning and told him to come and lie on her bed so she could keep an eye on him.

“I asked him, are you okay? He said ‘I feel dizzy and sick.’ I asked him did he throw up and he said ‘a small bit,’” Mrs McGinty said.

Around 5am, she heard her son get up and asked if he was okay. He told her he was going to be sick.

“He walked around my side of the bed and collapsed. I ran over to him and his eyes were flickering,” Mrs McGinty said.

The family called an ambulance but noticed that Joe had stopped breathing before the ambulance arrived. Medics worked on the teen at the family home before moving him to an ambulance for transfer to hospital. The ambulance stopped at Ted Lavelle’s pub where Mrs McGinty was told ‘it wasn’t looking good.’

“The doctor said they had given him three shots of epinephrine and there was no more they could do for him,” she said.

The inquest before Coroner Pat O’Connor at Swinford Courthouse in Co Mayo heard that Joe had been losing weight since May. He’d been complaining of feeling sick and dizzy and had been vomiting after meals. He received his first dose of the Pfizer covid 19 vaccine on August 20^th at Breaffy House Resort Vaccination Centre at 5.35pm. He was due to receive his second shot on September 14, but he died on September 13.

The inquest heard evidence from Garda Martin O’Reilly, who responded to an emergency call at 7.20am.

“I received a call from control which stated there was an ambulance outside Ted Lavelle’s pub with a 14 year old male on board who had suffered a cardiac arrest and was being treated by paramedics,” Garda O’Reilly said.

The court heard that Joe was pronounced dead at 7.47am by Dr Jason Horan. His remains were transferred to the mortuary in Castlebar under Garda escort.

Patricia McGinty told the court she brought her son Joe to Achill based GP Dr Ed King on August 31^st.

“His mother gave a history of Joseph vomiting after most meals over a four month period. She informed me that he had lost considerable weight over that period. In the 24 hours prior to coming to the surgery he had vomited after all meals. He looked pale and unwell,” Dr King said.

Dr Bernadette O’Leary said she had not seen Joseph McGinty for ‘a considerable amount of time’ prior to his presentation on August 31. She said Joe, who suffered from mild asthma, had been a patient at the surgery since his family moved to Achill in 2015.

“We need to be mindful this was during covid, we were seeing patients less and making use of phone conversations more,” Dr O’Leary said.

The GP said she vaccinated 85 children between 12 and 15 years old – Joe’s age group – between August and October 2021. She did not administer the vaccine to Joe.

Dr O’Leary said there was 24 days between Joe’s first vaccine dose and his death. She said whether the vaccine triggered the onset of the boy’s acute illness or not ‘would be impossible for us to say.’

The GP said there are known side effects associated with all medicines and vaccines.

“I vaccinated 85 in that age group which is a very high percentage (of the island population) and while there were some minor side effects there were no serious adverse reactions,” Dr O’Leary said.

The GP was asked if Joe had been diagnosed with Addison’s Disease before his death, would that place him in the category of ‘vulnerable’ and therefore in need of a covid vaccine.

“I presume so but he wouldn’t be administered the vaccine until his condition had stabilised. He had an acute illness. Any child or adult with an acute illness would not be administered the vaccine,” Dr O’Leary replied.

The inquest heard that Consultant Pathologist at Mayo University Hospital, Dr Fadel Bennani sought assistance in ascertaining the cause of death in order to complete his autopsy report. In his report Dr Bennani said the case was ‘difficult and will be sent for a specialist second opinion.’

“The autopsy findings of brain oedema with encephalitis, bilateral basal consolidation of lungs and generalised lymphadenopathy are consistent with viral infection. Immunologically mediated encephalopathy post covid vaccination, a rare possibility,” the pathologist’s autopsy report states.

Dr Bennani said Joe had inflammation of the lymph nodes which he described as unusual and ‘is regarded as a reactive process.’

“The proximal cause of death is due to massive brain oedema due to viral encephalitis,” Dr Bennani said in his autopsy report.

Specialist second opinion was sought from Dr Michael McDermott, Consultant Histopathologist at Crumlin Children’s Hospital and Neuropathologist Dr Jane Cryan.

In his report, Dr McDermott gave the final cause of death as profound adrenal pathology consistent with Addison’s Disease. In his commentary, Dr McDermott noted substantive and chronic adrenal damage which he described as ‘a pattern strongly suspicious for autoimmune adrenal disease.’

“Addisonian crisis is a potential explanation for Joseph’s death as the adrenal pathology makes Joseph unable to respond appropriately to any physiologic and pathologic stress such as that induced by infection.”

In his report, Dr McDermott noted that there were ‘a small number of reports of encephalopathy’ associated with covid 19 vaccination and the timing of Joseph’s death in relation to his vaccination was noted.

“However there is no clinical history to support any encephalopathy prior to the collapse and pathologic data describing any CNS (central nervous system) changes in that condition are not, to my knowledge available so any such connection between the pathologic changes and vaccination is speculative at this point in time.”

Dr McDermott’s commentary on the report continues:

“Moreover, the pathologic focus is small and not associated with significant oedema, features that would make it a more credible contributory factor to the tragic outcome. Of note, there is no evidence of myocarditis, a pathologic condition that has been characterised in association with covid mRNA vaccines.”

The boy’s mother said she there was no mention of Addison’s Disease until after her son’s death.

Mrs McGinty said she asked for scans and x-rays to be done at MUH on September 1, following a referral for further investigation at the GP surgery the day before.

She asked again for scans and xrays to be conducted at a return visit to MUH on September 8 and asked if she could pay for these but said she was told her son was ‘not sick enough.’

Dr King had ordered bloods to be done on August 31 and he referred Joe to hospital to be admitted for urgent investigation. The inquest heard the GP had underlined the word urgent in his referral letter.

In hospital on September 1 Mrs McGinty said bloods were taken again but there was never any further discussion of blood test results. She said the explanation she was given for Joe’s condition was a gastric issue and he was given IV fluids and sent home the following day.

Asked by her Barrister, Michael O’Connell of Lavelle Bourke Solicitors how Joe was after he received IV fluids during the overnight stay on September 1, the boy’s mother said he appeared to pick up again but she didn’t bring him back to the GP because he had a return hospital appointment booked for September 8.

In attempting to ascertain the reason why further investigations into Joe’s condition had not been conducted, as instructed in the GP’s referral letter, Mr O’Connell asked if the hospital was busy.

“No it wasn’t busy it was actually quite empty,” Mrs McGinty said.

Asked how she felt about her son being sent home without further investigations again on September 8, Mrs McGinty said she ‘wasn’t happy at all.’

“Joe was complaining that he was tired and wanted to go home and he was fed up sitting around waiting,” she said.

The inquest heard from the boy’s father, John Paul McGinty who said he met the local undertaker at a petrol station in December, three months after his sons death, who told him the family needed to collect their son’s organs from the mortuary before 3pm that day.

“I was in shock and told my wife, she was very upset and confused and my children could not believe this was happening,” he said.

The inquest heard it was normal procedure to liaise with undertakers regarding the return of organs post autopsy and that procedure has now changed with the introduction of a bereavement officer service.

In a supplementary statement made by Mrs McGinty on October 18 2021, she said her son ‘first began to feel unwell’ on a trip to Dublin on August 27 2021.

“He began to feel weak and he was vomiting. The condition persisted over the weekend, though Joseph did his best to participate in the activities we had planned.”

The inquest continues before Coroner Pat O’Connor at Swinford Courthouse, tomorrow.

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