State Coroner Mark Johns has opened an inquest into the death of Port Pirie man Peter John McBride Leaving an elderly patient suffering from dementia in a hospital bed for eight weeks while he developed a pressure sore was “almost a death sentence”, a coronial inquest has heard. On Monday, State Coroner Mark Johns opened the inquest into the death of Port Pirie man Peter John McBride, 86, at the Royal Adelaide Hospital on April 11, 2015. He died from multi-organ failure after a pressure sore on his lower back became infected. The inquest is investigating whether Mr McBride — a well-respected harness racing trainer — received adequate medical care at the Port Pirie Hospital during his 61-day admission before being flown to the RAH. Counsel assisting the coroner, Ahura Kalali, told Mr Johns that there were conflicting views about whether his care was acceptable. He said SA Pathology microbiologist Dr Ivan Bastian would give evidence that Mr McBride’s death was inevitable given the pressure sore he had developed on his lower back. “This is sadly and regrettably an inevitable, slow train wreck,” Dr Bastian has stated. “The worst thing to do is for an 86-year-old man, who I believe was demented with some comorbidities, is to be restricted to bed for six weeks. “This is almost a death sentence, which is what happened.” Expert Geriatrician Associate Professor Craig Whitehead is expected to tell the inquest that the death was preventable. But Mr Kalali said Port Pirie Hospital nursing staff and his treating doctor would likely give evidence that Mr McBride’s care was adequate. He said nurses believed Mr McBride was not cooperative and did not like to be touched, making his management more difficult. Mr McBride’s son, Bryan McBride, told the inquest that his father was at home with his wife of 62 years when his legs gave way and he had a fall on February 7, 2015. He said during his admission at Port Pirie Hospital, his father became depressed and even told his wife that he feared he would never leave. “She (my mother) felt like he was deteriorating,” he said. He said about three weeks into his admission, his doctor, George Seemanpillai, informed the family that he would need to be placed in an aged care home as he was diagnosed with high dependency dementia. But he said the family failed to get him into one of the three nursing homes in Port Pirie and the one at Port Broughton was also at capacity. “The hospital administrator rang and said they would place him at Clare, which is a long way from Port Pirie,” he said. Mr McBride said the family finally found Mr McBride a placement at a Port Pirie nursing home after a five-week wait, but he died two days before his scheduled move. He said his father would constantly complain about the pressure sore but whenever his mother questioned nursing staff about it, she was told it was being treated adequately. Mr Kalali said the inquest would look into the treatment and management of the pressure sore. “The inquest will be asked whether the pressure wound was an inevitable and unfortunate occurrence in a severely ill and elderly man, who had mental and mobility issues,” he said. “Or could the wound have been prevented had he been managed and treated appropriately.” The inquest continues.
