Dublin woman electrocuted as she held charging mobile phone in bath

Joe O’Gorman expressed concern at an inquest into his wife’s death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court yesterday that many people are being lulled into ‘a false illusion of safety’ by phone companies who promote their equipment as waterproof.

Ann-Marie O’Gorman, 46, a mother-of-three from Shanliss Avenue, Santry, Dublin, was pronounced dead on October 30, 2024, at Beaumont Hospital, where she had been rushed by ambulance after her husband found her unresponsive in an en-suite bathroom.

Mr O’Gorman gave evidence that he had left home at around 6.40 pm to drop the couple’s youngest daughter, Megan, to her first disco in Portmarnock.

He told coroner Cróna Gallagher that he had a 23-second call with his wife at 7.58 pm while driving home at a time he believed she might have already been in the bath.

Mr O’Gorman said he later went into the bathroom to see his wife, as she wanted to find out about how their daughter was doing. He described how he found her lying on her side in the bath with no sign of any movement.

Mr O’Gorman said his wife was also unresponsive when he opened one of her eyelids. At that point, he noticed her iPhone and a cable in the bath, which he grabbed and threw into the sink.

Mr O’Gorman said he got a small electric shock as he was lifting his wife out of the bath before calling to his eldest daughter, Leah, to dial emergency services.

While giving CPR to his wife, Mr O’Gorman noticed red marks on her hands and chest. Although she suffered from both Von Willebrand disease (a blood-clotting condition) and Graves’ disease (a thyroid condition), the inquest heard she was "fit and healthy" and attended a gym at 6 am every day.

In reply to questions from the coroner, Mr O’Gorman said he initially thought his wife had fallen asleep in the bath, but knew what had probably happened after seeing her iPhone. Mr O’Gorman said he believed he avoided receiving a larger shock when lifting her out of the bath because he was wearing flip-flops.

He outlined how a three-metre extension cable had been plugged into a socket in the bedroom while his wife’s phone was "just barely in the water".

Mr O’Gorman complained that there is no warning on iPhones about the danger of coming in contact with water while they are being charged.

He noted that another man had died in similar circumstances in London in March 2017, while he was also aware of the death of a child in the US who had a charging mobile phone in a bath.

Mr O’Gorman told the inquest he wanted the message to go out about the hazard created by charging a mobile in bathrooms so that it could save lives. He claimed warnings about such a hazard should be displayed prominently on the outside of the packaging of all electronic devices.

"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," said Mr O’Gorman. "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."

Paramedic Fiona Tormey gave evidence that an emergency call was received at around 8.25 pm, with an ambulance arriving at the scene at 8.38 pm.

State pathologist Heidi Okkers, who performed the post-mortem, said Ms O’Gorman had electrocution-type burns to her chest and left arm as well as full-thickness burns to her right index finger and thumb.

The pathologist said there was no evidence that any other health condition was a contributory factor in her death, while tests showed no alcohol or drugs in her body. She attributed the cause of death as electrocution by a charging cable and phone while in a bath.
 
A consultant forensic engineer, Paul Collins, told the inquest he believed the phone had fallen in the water and, in the process of turning in the bath to retrieve it, Ms O’Gorman’s right-hand finger came into contact with the handle of a shower attachment, which caused the electric current to pass through her body.

He said a current of 2 amps, which is typical for chargers, was "more than enough" to kill a person. "If she had not taken her hand out of the bath, she would probably still be alive," he said.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.