Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital where Mr Ward died.
A retired civil engineer from Donegal died after a feeding tube was wrongly inserted into his lung.
Charles Ward, 62, who was waiting for a liver transplant died at an English hospital after the hospital blunder, an inquest into his death has heard.
Mr Ward died at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital two days after the nasogastric tube was fitted in January 2012.
The nurse who fitted the tube, Gavin Kelly, said he had no reason to believe it was in the wrong place at the time.
He said Mr Ward ‘coughed and spluttered’ when the tube was inserted and added “It is not a pleasant procedure.”
The BBC has reported that Mr Ward, who had lived in Dawlish Warren, Devon, had been fed for six hours by the tube when he collapsed in his bed at 4am.
He was rushed into intensive care where he died a day later.
The Devon coroner Dr Elizabeth Earland was told that since Mr Ward’s death, procedures had been changed at the hospital.
A second nurse, Paul Jenkins, told the inquest that Mr Ward had slumped on his bed on his side and was fighting for breath.
He said when the tube was inserted, Mr Ward ‘coughed and spluttered several times’ as he tried to get his breath back.
He added that Mr Ward had been ‘a bit agitated’ but there ‘was no mention of the tube being in the wrong place’.
Nurse Jenkins said Okement ward at the hospital was ‘always busy’ and staff had been dealing with a couple of falls and some confused patients but he said ‘we were not rushed off our feet’.
A medical expert Dr Jason Payne-James, a consultant forensic physician, said: “I do not believe these actions constitute gross negligence.”
But the coroner heard that the feed tube used on Mr Ward was withdrawn after his death and a new model is used which a tip which is easier to see on an X ray.
Solicitor Julie Ford, for the hospital Trust said the incident was ‘an unintended consequence of an intended action’.
The coroner recorded a narrative verdict and said Mr Ward died from chemical pneumonitis caused by the liquid feed going into his lung because of the naso gastric tube being wrongly positioned.
An acid PH test was carried out incorrectly by the staff nurse which should have indicated the tube had been inserted into Mr Ward’s lung and not his stomach.
The inquest was told he suffered liver disease and was awaiting a liver transplant but he needed feeding up to make him fit enough for the surgery.
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