Patient’s death could have been prevented if doctor used pneumonia risk tool: coroner
The GP locum was not aware of the tool for assessing risk when treating the 60-year-old woman in ED, an inquest heard.
A woman with community-acquired pneumonia may not have died if a GP locum had calculated her risk of ICU admission or death when she presented to ED, a coroner has found.
Lynne Patricia Fisher, 60, died from sepsis a little over 24 hours after she was discharged from the Mount Barker District Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital in Adelaide in September 2018.
A couple of days earlier, Mrs Fisher’s GP had prescribed antibiotics for her two-week cough, shortness of breath and production of sputum, advising her to return if her symptoms failed to improve.
The next day, on 26 September, Mrs Fisher’s husband took her to hospital at around 7.30pm because she was experiencing shortness of breath and confusion, the Coroner’s Court of SA heard.
