An 82-year-old US tourist choked to death on a piece of food at Donald Trump’s golf resort, an inquest heard.
Tragic Janet Buchebner died of asphyxiation in the dining room of the US President’s Doonbeg resort in Clare on May 25 last. The type of food was not disclosed at Clare Coroner’s Court yesterday.
Ms Buchebner died despite the efforts of three off-duty doctors and Doonbeg staff who also provided assistance.
A native of Brooklyn, New York City, Ms Buchebner, of Country Club Drive, Destin, Florida, collapsed and died while having a meal with her daughter, Jeannie McGee.
County Coroner, Isobel O’Dea, told the court: “Everything that could have been done was done.
“We were fortunate that there were three medics on hand and every possible assistance was given to Ms Buchebner and by staff as well.”
Assistant Manager at Trump Doonbeg, Máiréad Flynn, said that around 7.30pm on May 25, she was alerted to come into the resort’s dining room.
Local man, Tony Pender, had been talking to Ms Buchebner and Ms McGee at their table and Ms Flynn said that Mr Pender came to her and said: “Call an ambulance - that woman is not well.”
In his evidence, Mr Pender stated: “I noticed Janet was having difficulties. I knew by her face that she was in distress. She wasn’t coughing - she just leaned over.
“I alerted people around the table and went to the staff to tell them.”
In her deposition, Ms McGee said that her mother had a history of heart problems and was prescribed antibiotics for a chest infection 10 days earlier.
Ms McGee was unable to travel to the inquest from Florida but stated in her deposition that on May 25, her mother was not feeling well.
Hotel staff approached Shannon GP, Dr Peter Flynn, to see if he could offer assistance.
Dr Flynn was in an adjacent lounge with his wife Dr Gwen Murray and Dr Ciarán Hughes.
Dr Flynn said: “I was told by a member of staff that a guest had collapsed in the dining room. When I went to see her, the woman was unresponsive and had no pulse.”
The elderly woman was laid out on a couch.
He said: “One member of staff was doing CPR and another member of staff had a defibrillator.
“I then asked someone to get my wife and Dr Hughes and they came to attach the defibrillator. We also continued CPR for 15 minutes.”
However, Dr Flynn pronounced Ms Buchebner dead at 8pm.
Ms Flynn told the inquest: “There was a large attempt by everyone to aid Janet, but it was unsuccessful.”
A post mortem carried out on Ms Buchebner’s remains on May 29 at University Hospital Limerick found that her larynx was blocked by food and this same piece of food was identified in the upper part of the oesophagus, which was also blocked.
The post mortem found that the cause of death was asphyxiation secondary to choking.
