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.
July 4, 2018
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application from Global Diagnostic (Australia) Pty Ltd T/A Global Diagnostic Australia for the Global Diagnostics (Australia) Pty Ltd Medical Imaging Technologist Enterprise Agreement 2018 has passed muster with Fair Work Commissioner Johns in Sydney on 2 July 2018.
July 4, 2018
A s.604 (Appeal of decisions) by Derbal Yerrigan Health Service Inc. has been corrected by Vice President Catanzariti, Deputy President Hamilton and Commissioner Wilson in Sydney on 2 July 2018. The determination now reads. “The Decision issued by this Full Bench on 29 June 2018 ([2018] FWCFB 2721) is corrected by amending the declarant’s name in the reference to the Form F18 filed by the ASU in matter number AG2016/6758 on 27 October 2016. The name of the declarant is replaced with Ayen Nyariel. The following paragraphs is to read as follows: Further, we mention that the Form F18 filed by the ASU in matter number AG2016/6758 on 27 October 2016 declared that “the union was a bargaining representative for the Agreement”; that the union supported the approval of the Agreement; and that “with respect to the matters contained in the employer’s Form F17 statutory declaration”, the declarant, Ayen Nyariel, the Industrial Officer “agree with the statutory declaration”. There is no evidence presently before the Commission that would support the truthfulness of these declarations. Furthermore, for the reasons set out above, we consider that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence may have occurred in relation to the statutory declaration made by Mr Chibale on 21 October 2016 in support of the application for approval of the Agreement. We have also formed the view that the ASU statutory declaration, signed and filed by Ayen Nyariel may also have been declared or filed contrary to law. Accordingly we will provide the declarations together with a copy of this decision and the chronology of events and witness statements to the General Manager of the Commission for the purpose of referral to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.”
July 2, 2018
Mayne Pharma Group has appointed Patrick Blaze as a director. Mr Blaze is a US resident and has more than 30 years of global healthcare industry experience, including more than 20 years at McKesson Corporation.
July 2, 2018
Ramsay Health Care will put up a defence to a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) being run by an ex-staffer (Buksh).
July 2, 2018
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and Japara Healthcare Limited have two s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) matters awaiting adjudication before Fair Work Commissioner Wilson in Court 12 – Level 5 in Melbourne at 2pm.
July 2, 2018
Doutta Galla Aged Services Limited has a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) which it is yet to resolve before Fair Work Deputy President Gostencnik in Court 6 – Level 6 in Melbourne (Devi).
July 2, 2018
Australian Self-Medication Industry Limited 7 Schoombie are under a s.773 (Application to deal with an unlawful termination of dispute) attack from a staffer (Atkins).
