Opinion

Police must learn lessons of woman's head injury death

The tragic death of Mairead McCallion from Omagh has resulted in two police officers being disciplined and raised serious questions about PSNI procedures in cases of head injury.

Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire was asked to investigate the handling of 36-year-old Ms McCallion's case.

She died of bleeding to the brain on February 24, 2014, the day after she told police her partner had grabbed her by the hair and struck her head against a wall.

Her partner was arrested while Ms McCallion, who had been drinking, was taken to see a police doctor at Omagh PSNI station.

Crucially, however, information about her head injury was not passed to the doctor and it was only when she was later being driven to a friend's house by police that she became ill and was taken to hospital where she subsequently died.

The ombudsman said it was `inappropriate' for officers to put the onus on Ms McCallion to pass on details of her injuries to an unfamiliar doctor in an unfamiliar setting, particularly as she was apparently intoxicated.

As he pointed out, head injuries can cause symptoms similar to intoxication and in these circumstances it was particularly important the doctor was told about the head injury.

Both officers involved in this distressing case have been disciplined and there is no doubt there were serious failings in relation to their conduct.

But there is also a wider issue of how police deal with people who have suffered a blow to the head and clearly the practice of taking someone to a police doctor rather than hospital is highly questionable.

It is essential the lessons of this case are learned to ensure the same thing does not happen again.

The PSNI has now reviewed its policy and in future anyone reporting a head injury will be taken straight to hospital.

This is the correct decision but Ms McCallion's family have been left wondering if her life may have been saved if she had received immediate hospital treatment.