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'My dad should still be here spending time with his grandkids'

A grieving family believe their grandfather would still be alive today if not for mistakes made by his local hospital during an emergency admission.

The family of a Gold Coast grandfather who died of cancer have claimed he would still be alive if he was told how sick he was sooner.

9News reports Jason Warwick was originally admitted to Robina Hospital in 2022 when an X-Ray found a mass in his chest.

Doctors initially diagnosed him with a chest infection and sent him home with antibiotics, but cancer was also a distinct possibility.

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The 51-year-old grandfather was supposed to go for a follow up six weeks later, however 9News reports a subsequent investigation found correct procedures weren’t followed during his admission.

This meant reports and discharge papers weren’t sent to his GP or his home address.

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Jason Warwick tragically passed away from lung cancer in January. Picture: 9News
Jason Warwick tragically passed away from lung cancer in January. Picture: 9News

"I didn't know they were after me"

Jason had previously told 9News he wasn’t warned or followed up with in an interview before his death.

“I didn’t know they were after me,” he said. “If they wanted me to see them, I would have been in there if there was a chance to not die.”

Gold Coast Hospital and Health Services initially denied any wrongdoing, saying “nothing had gone wrong in this case”, but an internal investigation has since revealed their mistakes.

“The correct procedure for patient identification and registering/admitting a patient in the emergency department was not followed,” the hospital’s report reads.

“Due to human factor and system issues, the follow up did not occur which contributed to the patient sustaining likely permanent harm with a terminal diagnosis.”

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Jason's daughter Tayla is angry that her father passed away before he could see the results of a hospital investigation. Picture: 9News
Jason's daughter Tayla is angry that her father passed away before he could see the results of a hospital investigation. Picture: 9News

"He never wanted to die"

9News reports the investigation also found that Jason’s scans “were not reviewed by the inpatient treating team during the patient’s admission”.

"If the patient had been advised specifically of the result there would have been a higher probability of being diagnosed at a curative period of tumour growth," the report found.

Jason tragically passed away on January 10 before the report was released.

Jason’s daughter Tayla is now angry that the disease wasn’t properly treated when doctors first found the mass back in 2022, and that her father didn’t live to see the results of the investigation.

"He was devastated - he never wanted to die and he knew there was nothing more that he could do," she told 9News.

"He was never granted the answers he deserved. It was always too late for that.”

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Jason and Tayla being interviewed before his death. Picture: 9News
Jason and Tayla being interviewed before his death. Picture: 9News

"The communication could be better"

Dr Kellie Wren, executive director for medical services and clinical governance for Gold Coast Hospital and Health Services, still maintains there were no mistakes made during the X-ray part of the process, but admits other areas needed improvement.

“There were definitely areas for us to improve on, and we will work through the recommendations (of the report) at every step,” she told 9News.

“The communication could be better - but it wasn’t a communication breakdown.”

Originally published as 'My dad should still be here spending time with his grandkids'

Original URL: https://www.ntnews.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/my-dad-should-still-be-here-spending-time-with-his-grandkids/news-story/eb2f628a7d3c3e8679d8c2000b07d2a3