Elderly man dies after episode in bathroom at Gold Coast University Hospital

Gold Coast Health will review the death of a man inside an emergency department bathroom at a Gold Coast hospital. READ THE LATEST

Man found dead in bathroom at the Gold Coast University Hospital Emergency Department.

A Gold Coast Health review has been launched after the death of an elderly man found in the toilets of the emergency department of the Gold Coast University Hospital.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has confirmed the review, which is standard practice when someone dies on site.

“My heart goes out to this man’s wife and his family,” Ms Fentiman said.

The Minister said she had been advised the man was triaged appropriately on arrival in the ED last week and was in the waiting room no longer than eight minutes before he went to the bathroom and suffered a medical episode.

“There are functional duress buttons located in the bathrooms of the Gold Coast University Hospital but one was not used,” Ms Fentiman said.

She added that the hospital’s medical team continued resuscitation efforts on the patient for 40 minutes.

“This is an incredibly sad incident,” Ms Fentiman said.

“The (review) findings will be delivered accordingly.”

Opposition health spokesperson and Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates addressed the incident in State Parliament, asking what triage category was applied for the patient and whether he was put in the highest category.

Ms Bates also asked how long the patient was in the waiting room before he was later found dead in the bathroom.

A health insider speaking on the condition of anonymity to the Bulletin has claimed it was at least an hour before staff noticed he was missing.

The Bulletin asked Gold Coast Health how long it took before the man was found. A spokesperson declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.

Earlier: Review into patient’s death in emergency department bathroom

A patient has been found dead inside a bathroom at Gold Coast University Hospital’s emergency department (ED).

The elderly man attended the hospital on Wednesday, February 7, and was immediately triaged by ED staff, a spokeswoman for Gold Coast Health said in a statement.

“Just eight minutes after his arrival, the patient visited the ED bathroom, where he has suffered a medical episode,” the statement read

“Following a search for the patient, he was located in the bathroom, unresponsive, and despite all efforts, he could not be revived.”

Gold Coast University Hospital Emergency Department bathroom. Picture: Archive

The spokeswoman said a review would be undertaken into the patients death.

Gold Coast Health confirmed the hospital was busy at the time of the incident but said that it was typical for the ED.