THE family of a woman who died after police officers failed to alert a doctor to her head injury say she failed to get the "urgent medical attention" which might have saved her life.
Two police officers have been disciplined after a Police Ombudsman investigation found it was "inappropriate" that they had expected Mairead McCallion to pass on the information to medics herself.
The 36-year-old trainee accountant died from bleeding to the brain at Erne Hospital in Enniskillen on February 24 2014 - the day after suffering the head injury.
Her former partner was charged with her murder but the case was later dropped.
Described by her family as "funny, witty, kind, caring, very, very intelligent", her sister Patricia O'Brien said her injuries were not "taken seriously".
"She had clumps of hair visibly hanging off her shoulders - that should have been taken very seriously. Had that have been taken seriously, Mairead should have been given urgent medical attention," she told the BBC.
The 36-year-old was allegedly assaulted by her partner the day before at a house in Castleview Court in Omagh.
She told police that he had grabbed her by the hair, struck her head against a wall and thrown her outside into the garden. She was taken into custody and examined by a police doctor.
However, the medic in Omagh said he was not told Ms McCallion - who had been drinking - had suffered a head injury.
After the examination, two officers - including the officer initially informed of her injury - set off in a police car to take her to a friend's house, despite the fact she had become more unsteady on her feet and was "less chatty".
The other officer, who was unaware of the head injury, said she appeared "very intoxicated" and he "was surprised" the doctor had allowed her to leave the station.
An ambulance was called after she was sick in the back of the car and she died a day later in hospital.
The officer who booked the medical examination admitted that she had not told a colleague at Omagh station or the doctor Ms McCallion's account of her injuries.
And, although aware Ms McCallion had previously suffered domestic abuse, she did not inform colleagues, believing it would be investigated later.
Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said it was "inappropriate that the officers put the onus on the woman to pass on the details of her injuries in an unfamiliar setting to an unfamiliar doctor, especially in light of the fact she was apparently intoxicated".
He said the officer should have "reassessed" whether further medical care was needed when she noticed changes in Ms McCallion's "communication and demeanour".
Dr Maguire recommended the PSNI review the practice of people with injuries being seen by a police doctor rather than taken to hospital.
