Widespread criticism of Barwon Health following major hospital blunder
The family of a Geelong man who was dead and lying in a hospital morgue frantically searched for him for a week after being told he had been discharged. This is why the hospital says they’re not to blame.
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A major hospital is under fire after telling the family of a dead patient that he was actually alive and had been discharged.
Relatives of Jeffrey Conway, aged in his 50s, spent a week searching for him and reported him missing to police before staff at Barwon Health in Geelong owned up to the epic blunder, according to 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.
It turned out the Geelong man had died in hospital on September 20, the day he had been admitted.
Mr Conway’s body had been in the hospital morgue throughout the week long ordeal.
Barwon Health apologised for the bungle but said police also had questions to answer.
The hospital claimed Victoria Police were in fact notified of the death the day it occurred.
“Barwon Health has unreservedly apologises for the distress caused by the delay and the manner in which the family was notified of their relative’s death,” read a statement.
“The staff in the Emergency Department made multiple attempts to contact the next of kin listed in the patient’s previous medical record.
“The police were notified at the time of the patient’s death.
“As the case was an unexpected death and the relatives could not be contacted, the matter was referred to the coroner.
“Once referred to the coroner, it is the role of the police and the coroner to work together to notify the family.
“The Emergency Department staff also contacted the patient’s listed GP.”
Barwon Health is now liaising with Victoria Police over the blunder.
“We are awaiting advice regarding the internal communication between the police involved in the initial notification to police at the time of the patient’s death and the police involved in the coroner’s case,” read the statement.
The man suffered a medical episode while having a coffee at his favourite cafe in Geelong.
He was rushed to hospital and died soon after.
Waitress Tiettu Popping said she witnessed the incident when she called into the cafe with her mother for a coffee.
“He had a really big fall and mum put him in the recovery position,” she said.
“He wasn’t breathing properly and his condition was not good so we called for an ambulance.
“We tried to call his sister but we couldn’t get on to her.
“Mum went into hospital with him and the next day she told me when she left the hospital he wasn’t waking up, he was unconscious, so she didn’t know what happened.”
Ms Popping visited the hospital on Sunday morning to check on the man’s welfare but was told he had been discharged on Saturday.
In fact, the man died shortly after he was admitted and was transferred to the coroner’s morgue in Melbourne.
“I double checked and made sure this was the right man,” Ms Popping said.
“I was just very surprised given his condition.
“Six days later I get a phone call at Two Sugars from his sister asking if he has come into the shop and have we seen him.
“I said he hadn’t come into the shop since his fall, I’ve checked the hospital and I’m pretty sure he’s gone home.
“She had no idea that he had been discharged or was even in hospital.”
Victoria Police will review its handling of the case, including the delay in notifying family of the man’s death.
“Victoria Police have identified some shortcomings in the process of notifying the family of the death of a Geelong West man at a Geelong hospital on 20 September,” it said in a statement.
“Police have spoken to the family of the deceased and apologised for any added stress this has caused during an already difficult time.
“We are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the circumstances surrounding the delay in notifying the family of his death.”
Alarms about his welfare were first raised by the cafe owner, who called the hospital to check on his condition.
3AW reported the cafe owner, sister of the patient and police were each told by the hospital on at least five occasions that he had been discharged.
Days into the search, police broke into his flat but the man was not there.
It has been reported that relatives are yet to be informed about how he died.
The major bungle has drawn widespread criticism of the hospital and triggered calls for the state government to explain how it got it so wrong.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said she had not been made aware of the incident until hearing radio reports on 3AW this morning.
“I’m very concerned by the allegations that have been made,” she said.
“I’ve asked my department to contact Barwon Health as a matter of urgency to seek some explanations about these very serious allegations and my thoughts are with the family.
“If it does prove that what has been alleged is in fact correct then I will be seeking a major investigation into what has occurred.”
But Ms Mikakos said there was no connection to a recent cyber attack at the same hospital.
“This matter occurred approximately 10 days before we became aware of any cyber security issues at Barwon Health (and) they don’t appear to be related in any way,” she said.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said police were working with the man’s distressed
He said police received a missing person’s report for the man on September 27, but did not receive notification of his death, as is standard practice with hospital fatalities.
Mr Ashton described it as a “sad case”.
“The family have gone a week without knowing and having to deal with that and in turn the ongoing grief that have to go through compounding it.
“We are trying to give the family as much information as we can from our side of things,” he said on 3AW.
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Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien called on the government to make an apology to the family and said the system was in crisis.
“Victoria’s health system is rapidly heading towards a crisis. Now we have got a situation where a poor family have been in grief for a week thinking their relative had been discharged, but in fact he was dead in the morgue. This is a government that has lost control of the public hospital system.”
Police received a missing person’s report for the man on September 27.
Barwon Health has been contacted for comment.