A mother-of-three died after being electrocuted while holding a charging phone in the bath, an inquest has heard.
‘Fit and healthy’ Ann-Marie O’Gorman, 46, from Shanliss Avenue, Santry, Co Dublin, was pronounced dead at Beaumont Hospital on October 30, last year.
The mother was rushed there after her husband Joe O’Gorman found her unresponsive in the bathroom at their home.
State Pathologist Heidi Okkers told Dubin District Coroner’s Court that Mrs O’Gorman had electrocution-type burns to her chest and left arm and attributed the cause of death as electrocution by a charging cable and phone while in a bath, The Sun reports.
Husband Mr O’Gorman gave evidence that he had left the house at around 6.40pm to drop their youngest daughter, Megan, at a party.
He told coroner Crona Gallagher that he had spoken to his wife on the phone at around 7.58pm while driving home.
Mr O’Gorman said that when he got home he went into the bathroom, where he found his unresponsive wife lying on her side.
He noticed her iPhone and a cable in the bath, which he picked up and threw in the sink.
Mr O’Gorman described how he got a small electric shock as he lifted his wife out of the bath before calling his eldest daughter to call emergency services.
Pictured: Ann-Marie O’Gorman, who was electrocuted while holding a charging mobile phone in a bath last year
He said he noticed red marks on his wife’s hands and chest as he gave her CPR and highlighted how a three-metre extension cable had been plugged into a socket in their bedroom.
The grief-stricken husband told the inquest that he wanted to raise awareness over the dangers of charging mobile phones in bathrooms.
‘The only thing you hear about is how these phones are great in up to six feet of water. It gives people the idea that you can have your phone near water’, Mr O’Gorman said.
‘There should be warnings that this is dangerous.
‘There’s nothing being done about this whatsoever by any provider to say this is a hazard you could die from. That is all that people have to know’, he added.
Mr O’Gorman also warned that many being are being lulled into a ‘false illusion of safety’ by mobile phone manufacturers for promoting waterproof equipment.
The grieving husband said there is no warning on iPhones about the danger of coming in contact with water while they are being charged.
