Death inquest: Sachintha Nandula Battagodage and Hemant Chadha died after repeated visits to Adelaide hospitals

A man who was turned away several times by Adelaide hospitals was also told to “stop causing drama” and that he was being “naughty” by a paramedic, a court has heard.

One of the men who tragically died after repeatedly being turned away by Adelaide hospitals was told to “man up” and “stop causing drama”, a court heard.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Hemant’s Chadha’s wife, Prabhleen Chadha told the court her husband was treated poorly by ambulance officers, after he was accused of being “naughty” for seeking medical attention.

“We call ambulance for help, we don’t call ambulance to get abused or to get humiliated,” Mrs Chadha said.

An inquest has heard Mr Chadha and Sachintha Nandula Battagodage – who had serious symptoms dismissed – would have likely lived if their pleas for help weren’t ignored.

Opening the inquest into Mr Battagodage and Mr Chadha’s deaths earlier this month, counsel assisting the coroner Emma Roper said Mr Chadha, 38, began to experience abdominal pain, a fever and cough in early April 2020.

Inquest into Sachintha Nandula Battagodage's death. Photo: GoFundMe

On 17 April, 2020, Mr Chadha, who was experiencing shortness of breath, dizziness and vomiting, was taken by ambulance to the Royal Adelaide Emergency Department after his symptoms didn’t improve.

A chest X-ray was performed, which reported Mr Chadha was suffering from pneumonia.

He was treated with antibiotics and discharged.

On April 20, an ambulance was called for Mr Chadha after he saw a GP at Hollywood Plaza.

Mrs Chadha told the court when the two ambulance officers arrived, and she requested a wheelchair the “very rude” male officer responded “How did he reach here, did he crawl?”

A further X-ray was ordered and Mr Chadha was discharged after the X-ray showed improvements in his condition.

On April 21, Mrs Chadha called for an ambulance after becoming very concerned about her husband’s condition, with the same officers attending again.

Mrs Chadha told the court the male officer told her husband should “man up” and asked “why is he causing all this drama?”.

“Then he turned to him and then he also said ‘naughty naughty, you are naughty’,” she said.

“And then he did mention to me ‘if you want we will take him to the hospital so that he can have a good night’s sleep because he’s troubling you too much.

“The way he (Mr Chadha) was looking at me was a very helpless way.”

Mr Chadha was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital, prescribed anti anxiety medication and discharged.

Mrs Chadha said her husband returned home in tears and told her he had been treated badly.

In the evening of April 22, Mrs Chadha tried to arrange for a locum to attend but none were available.

The court heard she wanted to call an ambulance but Mr Chadha stopped her from calling one due to his previous bad treatment and they went to sleep.

Mrs Chadha woke at approximately 4:45am and found her husband cold to touch and not breathing.

An ambulance was called and Mr Chadha was pronounced dead at 5.04am.

Mr Chadha’s cause of death was found at post-mortem to be acute on chronic pneumonia.

The court heard if Mr Chadha was admitted to hospital on April 21, it was probable his deterioration would have been detected and intervention probably would have prevented his death.

Mrs Chadha told the court she was very dependent on her husband and had now become a sole parent to their two children, aged seven and 14.

“We miss him a lot, every moment of every day … I just miss him all the time,” she said.