A MAN from Flintshire died from a drug overdose, an inquest heard. 

Edward Francis Tierney died at home on November 8, 2019. 

At County Hall in Ruthin on Friday (February 17) an inquest was held into the 55-year-old's death. 

John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, recorded a conclusion of drug-related death. 

However, the inquest heard from one of Mr Tierney's daughters, Nicola Broomfield who raised concerns about the circumstances of her father's death. 

Mr Tierney, of an address near Earl Road, Mold was found at home by his wife Heather in the afternoon of November 8. 

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He was a known heroin user over a period of 10 years and prior to his death had been regularly smoking it, in addition, to crack cocaine and cigarettes. 

Mr Tierney had been in and out of hospital for 12 months prior to his death, suffering from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 

A post-mortem examination found that he had the drugs in his system, as well as Methadone, which he regularly took. 

A pathologist's medical cause of death was combined methadone, cocaine and heroin toxicity. 

Mrs Tierney had gone out for a hospital appointment and as she returned she found her husband collapsed on the floor in the living room. 

An ambulance was called and Mrs Tierney sent her son, who was in his room when his father collapsed, to the nearby Daniel Owen Centre to get a defibrillator. 

Moments after and a member of the community arrived at the address and began administiring CPR to Mr Tierney as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. 

Ten minutes after receiving the red call, Welsh Ambulance Service workers arrived at the address. 

The paramedics and Advanced Paramedic Practioner, who was first on the scene were delayed slightly after having 'issues' finding the location. 

They began Advanced Life Support (ALS), which included CPR, defibrillators and adrenaline injections, but sadly could not save him. 

Mr Tierney's daughter, who herself is a paramedic on Merseyside raised concerns with the coroner over the care her father was provided with. 

ALS begins when the first of four (minimum) adrenaline injections are given to the patient. In 2019 the guidelines stated that ALS should last for 20 minutes. Efforts for Mr Tierney were stopped after six. 

In addition, Mrs Broomfield also felt that her father's patient clinical record was not filled out correctly. It is unknown how many adrenaline shots Mr Tierney received. 

Bryn Thomas, from the Welsh Ambulance Service, admitted that the information collected on Mr Tierney's death was "not as detailed as we would like." 

Regarding the decision on stopping ALS, Mr Thomas added that the circumstances at the time affect the decision-making and referred to the initial examination of Mr Tierney, being cool, slightly mottled, and with muscle stiffness. 

Dr Jonathon Whelan, Assistant Medical Director for WAST, discussed the likelihood of survival once suffering a cardiac arrest, as Mr Tierney did, which was as low as 0.4 percent. 

Mrs Broomfield said: "I understand we probably wouldn't have got my dad back, but he didn't get the gold standard service."

Concluding Mr Gittins felt that COPD had contributed to the death of Mr Tierney, alongside the toxic drug levels in his system. 

He stated that ALS was 'well short' on this occasion but it was a 'judgement call' at the time from those in attendance. 

Mr Gittins was satisfied that the incident didn't require him to file a prevention of future deaths report into the matter.