VERDICT: Coroner announces decision in Offaly farmer's inquest

OFFALY County Coroner Raymond Mahon has this evening (Tuesday, July 15) announced his verdict in the inquest into the death of Screggan farmer Joseph Grogan.

Mr Grogan (75), died at his home on April 15, 2023 after being diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer but a pathologist told the inquest that the cause of death remained unknown.

Mr Mahon said there were two verdicts available to him, an open verdict or a narrative verdict.

Opting for a narrative verdict he said he would refer to the most probable likely cause of death.

He said death was due to the probability of infection due to Mr Grogan's stage four Non Hodgkins lymphoma.

He had been receiving chemo therapy and his immune system was compromised.

Mr Mahon mentioned the evidence of Dr Kanthi Perera, oncologist, Tullamore Hospital, that Mr Grogan had suffered significant weight loss during treatment and after two cycles of chemo therapy he was admitted to hospital due to infections.

He said Dr Perera had mentioned Mr Grogan was quite vulnerable because of the weight loss and the effects of chemo.

Dr Perera had also given evidence that Mr Grogan was responding to treatment and up to 60% of patients like him survive for five years and she was most surprised to hear he had died.

Dr Charles d'Aldhemar, pathologist, gave evidence of carrying out a post mortem but said because of prior embalming the cause of death was unascertained.

Mr Mahon also said that Dr d'Aldhemar felt the long decline Mr Grogan experienced in the time before he died would not be consistent with a sudden death due to arrhythmia.

The coroner outlined Mr Grogan's weight loss from 79kg in June 2022 to 51kg at post mortem and described that as considerable.

The decline also supported the evidence of an infection, he added, and said an assessment by Aidan Dignam, a paramedic who was at the house with the ambulance on the morning of Mr Grogan's death, indicated his heart rate was fast and his blood pressure was low.

The coroner added that while there was valid criticism of Mr Grogan's care before he died, the man had indicated he did not want to go to hospital.

Mr Mahon did not refer to calls made at the inquest for the gardai to open an investigation into the death.

Those calls came from Damien Tansey, SC, who appeared for members of the Grogan family, and Peter Jones, solicitor for Teresa Mooney (nee Grogan), a 90-year-old aunt of the deceased.

Earlier this afternoon the inquest heard evidence from two first cousins of the late Joseph Grogan; Sean Grogan, Naas, Co Kildare, and Padraig Grogan, Brocca, Screggan.

Sean Grogan said he visited Joe Grogan's house on the day he died and was initially told when he arrived that he could not go in because ambulance staff were administering palliative care.

He then got another call later and returned and when he saw his cousin he noticed the man had one eye closed and one eye half open.

He said Mr Grogan was carried to an armchair which was stacked up on blocks in the kitchen to provide a view out a window and said that armchair had been given to his cousin by his “previous girlfriend”, a woman he named as Mary McDonnell.

He learned later in the day that Joseph had got married the previous day. None of the Grogan family knew about the marriage, he said.

Sean Grogan also agreed that “confirmed bachelor” would be an accurate description of Joe, a farmer who had 220 acres of land and whose home was about half a mile from the Flaherty ancestral home.

Padraig Grogan told the inquest he was in America with his wife Joan visiting their son at the time of Joe Grogan's death.

Before they left they asked Joe to let them know how he was getting on and he recalled Joe saying that Lisa would look after that.

Padraig Grogan said he had a farm of 230 acres and Joe's had been about the same size before the construction of a ring road which required about 10 acres of his land.

Padraig Grogan said Joe Grogan got between €800,000 and €900,000 in compensation for the land used for the ring road and €5.5 million was his accountant's valuation of the farm.

In addition to farming, Joe, who had been an only child, was in the concrete business and sold sand and gravel from a sandpit on his land.

Padraig Grogan said Joe Grogan never told him he was dying and he did not want to die.

He had only learned of the marriage after the death and said his cousin had never referred to a fiancee and made no reference to getting married. He also said Joe Grogan had been in a 23-year-relationship with another woman.

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