World war II hero Maxwell Murphy helped saved his country from invasion as the Japanese bombed Darwin in February 1942. Seventy-six years later his family want to know why no one was able to save him. Mr Murphy — in the early stages of dementia — died on November 21, 2014 after he drank surface sanitiser from a bottle in his bathroom at Lions Haven for the Aged at Hope Island. A pre-inquest hearing in the Coroner’s Court at Southport on Monday heard that caregivers took three hours to call triple 0 as the 88-year-old spat up blood, complained of a burning sensation in his mouth and could not breathe. Mr Murphy died three days later while in intensive care at Gold Coast University Hospital. The hearing was told an autopsy showed the inside of Mr Murphy’s oesophagus was burned and he had ammonia in both lungs. There was also damage to his upper large intestine. Coroner James McDougall on Monday officially opened the inquiry into the war veteran’s death to help give Mr Murphy’s two children and five grandchildren answers.
