Coroner finds Modbury Hospital doctor failed to diagnose a stroke being suffered by Jeremy Dane Wotton

A man told hospital staff he wasn’t “ feeling right” – but a young doctor didn’t take him seriously and sent him home. He didn’t survive.

Jeremy Dane Wotton told staff at the Modbury Hospital emergency department that he was “was not feeling right” when he was rushed there by paramedics.

Hours later he was diagnosed with vertigo and sent home with medication. He would return to the hospital later that day in the middle of a stroke which would claim his life.

An inquest into Mr Wotton’s death has found that the young doctor who diagnosed him did not take the 57-year-old’s presentation in hospital seriously and failed to interpret the results of a complicated test designed to identify strokes.

Mr Wotton was taken to Modbury Hospital in the early hours of June 4, 2018.

He had called a locum doctor who was alarmed at Mr Wotton’s reports of neck pain and “head spins” and had called an ambulance straight away.

While at hospital Mr Wotton, who had high blood pressure, smoked, was overweight and lived a sedentary lifestyle, reported dizziness and blurred vision.

The triage nurse noted Mr Wotton’s blood pressure was high, but the patient said he had been that way before and not felt dizzy.

The inquest heard that Mr Wotton was suffering a posterior stroke – which does not have the same symptoms as the more common anterior stroke and is harder to diagnose.

The main symptoms for a posterior stroke are sudden disturbances of balance and co-ordination as well as unusual movement of the eyes which is typically characterised as double vision.

Modbury Hospital where Jeremy Dane Wotton was misdiagnosed as having vertigo where he was having a stroke. Picture: Chris Walls

A young doctor working in the ED diagnosed Mr Wotton with suffering from peripheral vertigo – which is centred on the inner ear and caused by conditions such as a severe inner ear infection.

She performed a test to check Mr Wotton’s eye movement in relation to his head.

An expert neurologist gave evidence at the inquest that the doctor did not correctly interpret the readings from the test.

But he noted that the test was extremely complicated and the results from the three stages could often baffle even experienced neurologists.

However, the expert also said that Mr Wotton was suffering from central vertigo – meaning the feeling of dizziness was a product of something going wrong within the brain itself.

Mr Wotton was discharged home and went to bed at 9am. He woke two hours later with the left side of his face drooping and slurred speech.

He underwent emergency surgery that was ultimately successful, but his condition continued to deteriorate and Mr Wotton died at the Royal Adelaide Hospital on June 9, 2018.

Coroner Naomi Kereru recommended that emergency department staff receive training in the symptoms of posterior strokes.