Coroner Mark Johns willing to investigate old deaths at Oakden nursing home if funds are available

CORONER Mark Johns is willing to reopen old cases of deaths at the Oakden aged care facility if families present new evidence and the State Government stumps up the cash needed.

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CORONER Mark Johns is willing to reopen old cases of deaths at the Oakden aged care facility if families present new evidence and the State Government stumps up the cash needed.

Principal Community Visitor Maurice Corcoran this week raised new fears about several sudden deaths at Oakden, including from pneumonia as well as choking and fall, saying the harrowing findings of Chief Psychiatrist Aaron Groves’ cast new suspicion over historic cases.

Mr Johns has announced he will investigate a 2008 death in which one patient was charged with the murder of another, but died before the case could reach trial and be fully probed.

A spokeswoman for Mr Johns said he had investigated Oakden cases over the past decade which were reported to him under state law.

Legislation requires the Coroner be told of cases in which the death is unusually violent, unnatural or from an unknown cause. Alerts must also be made when death is within 24 hours of certain medical procedures or in a mental health facility.

The spokeswoman said Mr Johns was aware of the contents of Dr Groves’ report.

State Coroner Mark Johns

“He has investigated deaths at Oakden over the years if they were reported to him,” she said.

“As in any coronial case, where next of kin or others had raised particular concerns about the circumstances of the death, those concerns are considered as part of the coronial process.

“If there are closed coronial cases where families have specific concerns that were not raised at the time, the Coroner is prepared to consider reviewing those cases, subject to the extent of resources available to him.

“The Coroner is not resourced to review all the closed cases. Nor is he resourced to review cases that were not mandatory reportable deaths.”

The State Government on Thursday came under fire over revelations three major coronial inquests, including two deaths in custody and a three-year-old domestic violence murder, have stalled because of a lack of funding and despite a plea five months ago to Attorney-General John Rau.

A fourth inquiry, into the death of a worker at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital site, is also under threat from under-resourcing despite Premier Jay Weatherill’s public support for it.

The family of Ermanno Serpo, who spent three years living at Oakden’s mental health facility, said they were still waiting for a coroner’s report a year after his death on April 24, 2016.

They wanted to know whether ill-treatment from staff contributed to his hospitalisation and death from an effusion of the lung, and urged the Government to do more to help.

“My dad had witnessed falls in the week leading up to his death and we want to know whether they were all put in his records,” Mr Serpo’s daughter, Alma Krecu, said. “The Government, without a shadow of a doubt, should be able to give the coroner’s office more resources.”

Reports to the coroner are typically made by a doctor or police officer. After Dr Groves’ report, eight Oakden staff were stood down and 21 reported to a national regulator over concerns about poor care.

Police on Wednesday said no action would be taken on three cases referred to them.

Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said Dr Groves’ report highlighted the fact Oakden staff failed to comply with their mandatory notification requirements.

“We can have no confidence that staff or management were complying with their legal duties to report deaths to the Coroner under the Coroner’s Act,” Mr Wade said.

“There needs to be a full clinical audit of deaths at Oakden over the past decade or more to establish whether cases should be reported to the Coroner. “Given the under resourcing and delays in the Coroner’s Court, the Government needs to work with the Coroner to make sure that he has all the resources he needs to review the deaths and, if necessary, take them to inquest.

“Let’s be clear, the Coroner is not funded to deal with a decade of cover-up. The Government owes it to patients and their families to make sure that there is a special allocation to the court so that the circumstances of (Oakden) deaths are clarified as quickly as possible.”

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister Leesa Vlahos has urged families of past and present Oakden residents to call a 7485 4369 hotline to discuss their concerns

“Historical claims of abuse uncovered by SA Health, or raised by family members of Oakden patients, will continue to be referred to SAPOL,” she said. “I also want the (State Parliament) Joint Committee on matters relating to elder abuse to consider incidents at Oakden.”