Doctors need more training on rib injuries: coroner
GP should have sought specialist advice and transferred the patient
A SA coroner has recommended doctors be educated about the seriousness of rib fractures in elderly patients after finding a patient may have survived if a rural GP had organised timely transfer to a tertiary hospital.
The 81-year-old man should have been transferred to the larger hospital the day after he fell from a ladder, when X-ray results became available, said Deputy State Coroner Anthony Schapel.
