A young Kilkenny woman suffered a fatal allergic reaction after consuming a cup of coffee on the first day of starting a new job in Japan two years ago, an inquest has heard.
Aika Doheny (24), from Greensbridge Street, Kilkenny City, died at St James’s Hospital in Dublin on October 20th, 2022, a day after she had been transported back to Ireland by air ambulance from a hospital in Tokyo.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Thursday heard Ms Doheny became unwell and collapsed in a toilet after her lunch after suffering a suspected allergic reaction to milk in a coffee drink.
The inquest heard that the deceased was trying to administer an EpiPen and take an inhaler when she collapsed.
Ms Doheny, who had worked as a research assistant at the University of Galway while studying for a masters degree in biomedical science, had travelled to Japan on August 18th, 2022.
The deceased’s mother, Mayumi Doheny, gave evidence that she had accompanied her daughter to Japan in order to help her move in with the new job.
Ms Doheny said her daughter was allergic to eggs, dairy products and nuts.
She also confirmed that the deceased always carried an EpiPen with her because of her allergies.
The inquest heard that Ms Doheny started her new job on September 1st, 2022.
Her mother told the coroner, Aisling Gannon, that she had received a call around lunchtime that day to tell her that her daughter had suffered an allergic reaction and was being brought to hospital.
Ms Doheny said she received another call some time later which informed her that Aika had died.
She told the hearing that her daughter’s heart had been starting and stopping.
Ms Doheny gave evidence that she wanted to bring Aika back to Ireland and wanted to keep her on life-support until they could get back home.
She said doctors at St James’s Hospital had carried out tests on her daughter before deciding that they would switch off her life support machine on the morning of October 21st, 2022.
However, Ms Doheny said she decided that life support should be turned off the previous evening as felt Aika had already been “through enough” and her daughter was formally pronounced dead at 11.02pm.
Speaking through a Japanese interpreter, Ms Doheny expressed surprise that her daughter had suffered an allergic reaction to milk as she would instinctively vomit if she consumed any dairy product.
“It was very strange that did not happen this time,” she added.
Ms Doheny said she did not believe milk was the cause of the allergic reaction suffered by her daughter.
“I knew my daughter for 24 years. She never ordered milk with coffee. She always ordered soya [milk],” she observed.
State pathologist Heidi Okkers, who carried out a postmortem on the body of the deceased, said Ms Doheny had died from complications of an anaphylactic shock including brain damage from a lack of oxygen.
In reply to questions from the coroner, Dr Okkers said the impact and speed of an anaphylactic shock was dependent on the severity of the allergy.
However, the pathologist said it was not possible to know if what Ms Doheny had suffered was an allergic reaction to milk or nuts.
The inquest heard the deceased’s body was formally identified to gardaí by her brother, Takuya Doheny.
Garda Padraig Wickham gave evidence that he had made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain statements from medical staff in Japan as well as from work colleagues of the deceased.
Garda Wickham said he had sought the assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs, embassies, Interpol and Garda mutual assistance contacts in trying to obtain such information.
Ms Gannon said she did not have legal powers as a coroner to direct people living outside the jurisdiction to provide such evidence.
She said it might be possible that various parties in Japan might be willing to engage with the family of the deceased if they were aware of the conclusion of the inquest into her death.
However, Ms Gannon said she had “no sense of optimism” of such material becoming available in the short term.
The coroner said neither she nor gardaí had been given access to CCTV footage from the restaurant where Ms Doheny became unwell which had been seen by her mother.
The inquest heard that the deceased’s mother had seen a large file in a police station in Japan which had initially led her to think that her daughter had been killed but she no longer believed that to be the case.
Ms Doheny said Japanese police had told her that they had concluded her daughter’s death was an accident.
The deceased’s family GP in Kilkenny, Cormac Behan, told the inquest that Aika had suffered from severe eczema and asthma from a young age as well as several allergies, including eggs, dairy, nuts and fish.
Ms Gannon said she presumed a reference to milk and dairy in medical records from Japan was due to information that was available from people who were with Ms Doheny at the time of her collapse that she had consumed a cup of coffee that contained milk.
However, the coroner said medical staff in Japan were aware that she also suffered from a wider range of allergies.
Returning an open verdict, Ms Gannon said there was still a lack of some information about Ms Doheny's death, despite the conclusion by police in Japan that it was accidental.
