The RACGP has rejected a coroner’s recommendation to adopt National Heart Foundation of Australia guidelines for acute coronary syndromes, saying guidelines cannot be used as “a panacea for every presentation”.

It comes after Victorian coroner Sarah Gebert urged the college to endorse guidelines for managing possible acute coronary syndrome following the death of a patient, who had no cardiovascular risk factors, from an AMI caused by coronary artery giant-cell arteritis.

While it was not clear if the patient’s death could have been prevented, the case highlighted a “systemic” issue — notably the absence of RACGP-endorsed guidelines for managing potentially ischaemic chest pain, she found.

The GP who had assessed the patient two days before the patient’s death had not followed guidelines developed by the Heart Foundation and Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.