Doctor Lyall Henderson gives evidence during the Coronial inquest into Kate Marie Sylvia’s death

An Adelaide doctor has broken down on the stand during an inquest into the death of a young woman, saying he ‘wasn’t told vital information’.

The first doctor who saw a woman suffering from a fatal brain clot has broken down on the stand as he told a court she ‘should have gone straight to a hospital’.

On Wednesday, Dr Lyall Henderson said had he received vital information from ambulance officers, he would have told Kate Marie Sylvia, 32, to go to emergency – and not seen her as a patient.

The court heard the recorded phone call between Kathryn Jean Sylvia, Kate’s mum, and South Australian Ambulance Services dispatch officers where she described her daughter’s headache.

Dr Lyall Henderson leaves court after giving evidence during the Inquest in to Kate Marie Sylvia’s death. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“She’s had a migraine from 5 o’clock this morning, but she can’t hold anything down, she’s vomiting and it’s a huge stabbing pain … it’s just escalated,” Mrs Sylvia said during the call.

“I’ve just called her … but she can’t talk properly … she’s like a drunk person.”

Dr Henderson told Deputy State Coroner Naomi Kereu that the symptoms described by Mrs Sylvia raised “red flags” and sounded more serious than what Kate presented to him when he assessed her.

“If I had been informed of it at the outset, then I would have suggested Kate shouldn’t come to us … I would have said this person is better off assessed in a tertiary emergency department,” Dr Henderson said.

An Inquest has heard Kate Sylvia died of a blood clot in her brain days after being sent home by Dr Henderson. Picture: Supplied by Family

“I wish that I had been able to detect there was more serious pathology at play”.

On December 2, 2021, Dr Henderson was the only doctor on duty at the Sefton Park Hospital Avoidance and Supported Discharge Service (HASDS) and told SAAS to bring Kate to his clinic for an apparent “migraine”.

Dr Henderson told the court he had made a mistake when assessing the information provided on a form filled out by paramedics, and did not know Kate was taking an oral contraceptive.

Nick Xenophon, acting for the Sylvia family, asked Dr Henderson if he had known she was taking the medication would he have changed his assessments?

Kate’s parents, Katheryn and Neil Sylvia were returning from seeing family when they called and ambulance out of concern for their daughter Kate. Picture: NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

Dr Henderson said it would not, despite the pill making Kate seven times more likely to sustain a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis – which she died from days later on December 6.

During day one of the inquest, Mrs Sylvia told the court Dr Henderson had told her “statistically, people in their 20s and 30s don’t have strokes”, and that Kate should just “go home” and “sleep it off”.

Dr Henderson said he may have said something to alleviate her mother’s concern, but did not tell her to simply “sleep it off”.

Kate, who was originally from Millicent and worked in the Pembroke Middle School Library, is remembered as a “kind, sweet” woman who was “dedicated” and did not let her dyspraxia hold her back in life.

The coronial inquest continues.