Report by Olivia Kelleher
A pathologist who carried out a postmortem on a 23 year old man who died of a catastrophic brain bleed five days after he received a Johnson and Johnson Covid vaccine has described the case as “baffling and unusual."
Roy Butler of O’Reilly Road in Waterford died at Cork University Hospital (CUH) on August 17th, 2021 having received a jab at a pharmacy five days earlier. He was rushed to University Hospital Waterford on August 16th, 2021 and shortly afterwards shifted to CUH after he became extremely ill at home.
Ciara Davin, BL, for the Butler family said that Roy’s “last communication on earth” involved him calling his mother for help at the family home on the Cork Road.
He experienced jerking and convulsions shortly before he was hospitalised. He had sent texts to his friends and his brother over the previous few days saying that was feeling sick following the vaccine.
Ms Davin said in her closing submission that Roy even told one of his friends via text that he was “dying” after the jab.
“Poignantly he was effectively documenting his own demise in his texts to friends. Little did he know that he was in fact dying when he said ‘dying’ in a text to a friend.”
Ms Davin said in Roy’s ‘honest and innocent” texts he “left all the evidence” that was needed to link his death to his receipt of the Covid vaccine. Roy had complained of headaches, grogginess, neck and jaw soreness.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a postmortem on the body of Mr Butler.
She told the inquest that the cause of death was a spontaneous and unexplained intracranial haemorrhage. She described the case as “baffling’ and “extremely rare.”
Dr Bolster said that she had carried out 20,000 postmortems over thirty years. She indicated that she had never come across a case of a young person dying in this manner where an explanation couldn’t be furnished.
She said that she couldn’t make a causal link with the vaccine arising out of the paucity of scientific literature.
Dr Bolster said that a link between the vaccine and the death of Mr Butler couldn’t be established or ruled out.
“I certainly cannot rule it out but I would need to know a lot more about the cases. It is extremely rare. It (linking it to data) would have to be based on sound scientific evidence. I cannot say anymore than I cannot rule it in or out and the correct procedure was to contact the National Drugs Advisory board (which she did) and they correlate all this data. You would have to correlate how many of those cases had no underlying abnormality.”
Meanwhile, neuropathologist at CUH, Dr Niamh Bermingham, who alongside an other colleague carried out an examination of the brain of the deceases said that it was an “unusual case.” She stated that she couldn’t recall another case of an “unexplained haemorrhage in a young person.”
Dr Bermingham said that they couldn’t find the origin of the bleed. She said that there was no genetic component found which could explain the death. No malformations were detected in the brain of Mr Butler.
Ciara Davin, BL for the Butler family, thanked Dr Bermingham for her comprehensive and helpful evidence. However, she said the family “were at a loss” as no explanation has been furnished for the death of their loved one.
In her closing submission, Ms Davin said Roy Butler’s death was caused by the vaccine. She said that the most appropriate verdict is in the case was one of misadventure.
She insisted that Mr Butler’s death arose because of an “evolving intra cerebral crisis.” She said that the footballer was a “clean living” man who trained several times a week.
“He had no underlying issues and no past history of medical significance.”
Ms Davin said that we are now aware of other cases of people who suffered a “intra cranial haemorrhage” after they took the jab.
John Lucey, SC for Johnson and Johnson, said that it was a “shocking tragedy.” However, he emphasised that the facts were that there was no medical evidence to determine any link between the vaccine and the death of Mr Butler.
He stressed that the range of verdicts in the case should not go beyond a narrative verdict or open verdict. He added that a “narrative verdict’ was the only appropriate verdict in the case.
Coroner Philip Comyn said that the testimony over the last three days was “complicated and moving.”
Mr Comyn will email the verdict to the relevant parties within the next fortnight. He extended his heartfelt condolences to the Butler family following their “tragic loss” in difficult and unexpected circumstances. He said that Roy was a “healthy young man with his whole future ahead of him.”
Mr Comyn also thanked the Butler family for the manner in which they had conducted themselves during the inquest. He also thanked representatives of Johnson and Johnson for travelling from the States for the inquest.
Sgt Fergus Twomey thanked the Butler family and Roy’s friends. She said that Roy was “obviously very loved” and that his loved ones had “advocated very strongly” for him. The verdict will be emailed to the relevant parties in the coming weeks.
Speaking outside the court Aaron Butler thanked all the people who had supported them for the last two years. He also expressed gratitude for the work of Ciara Davin and her team. Aaron added that his brother was “the total package” — a “caring and positive” young man loved by all.
Report by Olivia Kelleher
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