GP’s reliance on patient’s self-examination during telehealth consult was a mistake, says coroner
The elderly woman’s bowel obstruction would have been diagnosed in time to prevent her death if the Adelaide GP had insisted on a face-to-face consultation, coroner finds
A GP’s elderly patient would not have died from a bowel obstruction had the GP insisted she attend for a face-to-face consult rather than guide her through a self-examination via telehealth, a coroner has said.
After vomiting and experiencing abdominal pain for two days, 70-year-old Virginia Weekes arranged a telehealth appointment with her Adelaide-based GP in early April 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
