Tullamore inquest hears part-time undertaker suggested farmer's body be embalmed
The inquest is examining the death of Joseph (Joe) Grogan (75), of Screggan, outside Tullamore,
Co Offaly
, who died at home on April 15th, 2023.
Mr Grogan's body was embalmed later that day in Longford and then returned to his home outside Tullamore.
Mr Grogan, who was suffering from cancer, was receiving treatment, and had been losing significant amounts of weight. He married Lisa Flaherty Grogan the day before he died.
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Pathologist Dr Charles d'Adhemar has told the inquest he could identify no clear cause of death and that the post-mortem had limited the scope of his examination.
On Tuesday, Martin Keyes, a truck driver and part-time undertaker, said he had suggested to Mr Grogan's wife, Ms Flaherty Grogan, that Mr Grogan's body be embalmed and she agreed.
The body was 'black and blue', he said.
'Ninety per cent of the people I would do would get embalmed,' he said.
Asked by barrister Stephen Byrne, for Ms Flaherty Grogan, if there was anything more 'sinister' about the decision to have the body embalmed that the coroner should know about, Mr Keyes said there was not.
Mr Keyes was asked about the decision to embalm the body and the fact a Midoc doctor who went to Mr Grogan's house earlier that day, had not officially released the body.
Damien Tansey, senior counsel for members of Mr Grogan's family, said the coroner had concerns about what had happened with Mr Grogan's body and instructed Gardaí to repossess it.
When he asked Mr Keyes if he was happy with what he did on the day, Mr Keyes responded: 'It was normal, standard practice, what I did.'
Mr Keyes said he was a truck driver who worked as a part-time undertaker for about 15 years and had organised about 100 funerals. He was not a registered undertaker or a member of the sector's representative body.
He said he was told by Ms Flaherty Grogan that a Midoc doctor had been at the house earlier on the day Mr Grogan died, confirmed the death, and released the body so Ms Flaherty Grogan could arrange the funeral.
The doctor, Dr Ben Kato, has given earlier evidence that he did not officially release the body and could not have done so as he had not attended on Mr Grogan before his death.
Lisa Flaherty Grogan pictured on Tuesday at Tullamore Coroner's Court. Photograph Nick Bradshaw/ The Irish Times
Ms Flaherty Grogan's sister, Niamh Higgins, a psychiatric nurse, said she called to the house on April 15th and formed the view that Mr Grogan was comfortable but 'actively dying'.
She said she called the Midoc service but Mr Grogan was showing no signs of life by the time the doctor arrived. She made notes, as was her practice as a nurse, and recorded the time of death. She had the notes with her in the witness box.
Responding to Mr Tansey, she said it was the day of Mr Grogan's death that she learned her sister had married him the previous day.
A lifelong friend of Ms Flaherty Grogan's, Mary Coyne, who is a healthcare worker with the oncology department in Tullamore Hospital, said she visited Mr Grogan regularly in the period up to his death and was friendly with him.
When she saw him April 15th she said to him in a quiet voice: 'We have news. We got married.'
She told Mr Tansey she did not consider it unusual that a man would get married a day before he died.
In her work in the oncology department, she said, she had seen that happen before, adding: 'I've seen people marry on the wards.'
Solicitor Damien Tansey (pink tie) emerges from Tullamore Coroner's Court on Tuesday with Sean Grogan (cousin of deceased). Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/ The Irish Times
During the morning court sitting there was a number of objections, from other legal representatives and the coroner, to questions asked by Mr Tansey.
At one stage, when Mr Tansey used a particular phrase in relation to Ms Flaherty Grogan's relationship with Mr Grogan - she was born in 1976 and has told the inquest they had been together for more than 16 years, having known each other since she was a teenager - Ms Flaherty Grogan left the courtoom obviously upset, and was still crying upon her return.
The inquest is expected to conclude today.
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