Smoke inhalation did not play a role in sudden death of Muff farmer

An elderly Muff farmer, who was discovered dead on the floor of his home three years ago, died from a combination of pneumonia and acute starvation, an inquest has heard.

Robert McCauley died at his home at Lenamore, Muff on March 26, 2022. He was 88-years-old.

The room in which he was found was full of fumes from the stove and Mr McCauley’s body was covered in black soot, leading to some concern that he may have died from smoke inhalation.

However, the Coroner’s Court at Buncrana ruled that he had only very low levels of carbon monoxide in his system and that the smoke did not play any part in his death.

“There was a build-up of reek and soot in the room but that didn’t really impact things. He died independent of the smoke,” Coroner Dr Denis McCauley explained, ruling the death as one of natural causes.

In his deposition, Richard Wylie, the deceased man’s cousin who lived nearby, relayed how he had called to Mr McCauley's house on March 26, 2022 to tell him that he had removed sheep from a field he had been renting from him.

“I thought he might need the field for his cattle. I called to the house but I didn’t see him. I tried to look in the window of the house, but I couldn’t see because it was so smoky inside.”

Mr Wylie knocked on the door but there was no answer. He then tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. He got a “bad feeling” that there was something wrong so he decided to call the guards.

“While I was waiting for the Gardai, I went and told Robbie’s brother Jim and his wife Veronica. The Gardai arrived and Jim came to the house too. Jim gave the door a good push and it opened.”

Mr Wylie said he then found the body of Robert McCauley lying across the back of the door on the floor.

“I put my hand to his head but he was cold to the touch. I remember there was a lot of smoke in the air in the house.”

“At that stage someone decided to turn the oil cooker off because it was still burning the oil. I switched it off at the oil tank and I turned off the switch at the cooker too.”

Continuing his evidence, Mr Wylie said the heavy smoke in the house was not that unusual, but it wouldn’t normally have been as bad as that.

“I cleaned the chimney for him about two years previously and it probably should have been cleaned again.”

The inquest heard how Mr McCauley had lived alone in a house that was about 250-years-old and used to have a huge open hearth. Over time, a solid fuel cooker was installed and it was converted to oil.

Mr McCauley could be “very confused on some days and fine on other days”, the Coroner’s Court was told.

Mr Wylie said he was one of the few people who still called to Mr McCauley at that time and he knew him for sixty-plus years.

“I wasn’t down there often. I think I was one of the few people who called to him.”

James McCauley, brother of the deceased, then gave evidence to the inquest.

He said he was called to his brother’s home on the evening of March 26, 2022.

“When we arrived at the house I pushed against the front door to open it. I got Robbie lying on the cold cement floor behind the door.”

“There were a lot of fumes in the room. I asked Richard Wylie to turn off the stove. We didn’t know at the time that the damper was closed off on the chimney.”

James told the inquest that he hadn’t spoken to his brother for a while, and they had been estranged for quite some time.

“We weren’t down for a good while because he fell out with us.”

Answering questions from the Coroner, James said the room was very smoky.

“The whole room was black with soot and he was all black with soot too. We tried to open the door. We shouted in to see if he would answer us but there was no answer.”

“We tried to push the door and it started to bend. I was determined to get in to see if he was alright, so I put my foot to the bottom of it and pushed the door and got it back just enough to let us and the guards inside.”

“We found that he was dead. We didn’t know before that.”

The inquest next heard from Garda Joe McElhinney, of Burnfoot Garda Station, who had also responded to the scene.

“I spoke to James McCauley and became aware he had pushed against the door and opened it to discover the body of his brother Robert.”

“He was lying on the floor inside. Robert McCauley did not appear to be breathing. I could not get a pulse. His skin was cold to the touch and his skin was black with soot. There was a heavy smell of heating oil and smoke in the house.”

“I got the smell of diesel fuel in the air, from his skin and his clothing. The air downstairs in the house was covered in smoke.”

He said Sergeant Doherty, of the Divisional Scenes of Crime Unit, attended the house and photographed it. Garda McElhinney noted that there were no other signs of entry.

A NowDoc doctor attended the scene and pronounced Robert McCauley deceased at 6.58pm.

Garda McElhinney told the Coroner that the the only air getting in would have been via the front door. All the windows were closed and there was no ventilation, leading to a soot build-up.

Coroner McCauley asked him: “Are you comfortable that there was nothing suspicious in relation to this death? No third party involved?”

Garda McElhinney replied: “There was nothing to lead me to believe there was anything untoward.”

Dr Gerry O'Dowd, Letterkenny Hospital's chief pathologist, summarised the findings of the autopsy performed on Monday, March 28, 2022.

External examination of the body showed that there was prominent soot staining to the skin, face, hands, forearms, feet and legs. There was no sign of any external injury.

Internal examination revealed how the right lung was double the normal weight, caused by the presence of pneumonia infection – and this was subsequently confirmed by microscopic examination of the lung tissue.

“Significantly, there was no evidence of soot staining to the lining of the main airways,” Dr O’Dowd said.

A blood sample was sent for toxicological analysis and it demonstrated a carbon monoxide level of less than ten per cent. It was also negative for alcohol.

“Given the low carbon monoxide level and no soot staining internally, smoke inhalation played no part in the cause of death. It appears the deceased was already dead, and the fire continued to burn after he was dead.”

Dr O’Dowd said death was due to ketoacidosis, with pneumonia as a contributory factor.

Starvation ketoacidosis occurs when the body, deprived of glucose for a prolonged period, switches to using fatty acids for energy, leading to the buildup of ketone bodies and a subsequent metabolic acidosis.

Dr O’Dowd explained: “He was suffering from a pneumonia and that caused him to collapse inside the door. He was probably lying there for a considerable period of time while the pneumonia worsened.”

“Obviously, he wasn’t eating anything or consuming any fluid during that period of time. Normally we burn Glucose for energy, but If you’re not taking in any food, the body has to find other substances to burn, so it burns fats and this creates lots of keto acids and that’s what leads to the acidosis.”

Coroner McCauley ruled the cause of death as ketoacidosis, secondary to broncho-pneumonia and acute starvation.

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Dr McCauley then explained the verdict to the deceased’s brother and cousin in court.

“We think what happened was that Robert developed a chest infection and then he became unwell. He probably didn’t eat for a day or two because he was feeling unwell and that causes a bad reaction in your blood to produce acid.”

“There was a build-up of reek and soot in the room but that didn’t really impact things. He died independent of the smoke.”

“He probably would have died from his broncho-pneumonia anyway, but because he wasn’t eating, this acid built up in his blood and that’s what killed him. He basically died of a bad pneumonia.”

Coroner McCauley offered his sincere condolences to the family.

“In the latter part of his life, Robert had become more insular and had distanced himself from his family. It was unfortunate that he died under these circumstances,” he added.