Family demands answers after great-grandmother dies in Royal Adelaide Hospital corridor
A great grandmother, who was placed in a Royal Adelaide Hospital corridor, has died leaving the devastated family demanding answers.
The family of great grandmother Helen Sargent are calling for answers after she was left “like a piece of rubbish” and died in a corridor at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Ms Sargeant, 64, was admitted to the hospital on October 10, but was moved to a “non-designated bed space” away from emergency equipment and near a kitchen the following day.
On October 11, Ms Sargeant became unresponsive and died after failed resuscitation attempts, which left staff and onlookers distressed.
Her sons, Damien and Simon, still do not know how their mother died.
“She was basically in a hallway … like a piece of rubbish,” Damien told 7NEWS.
“It’s not a very nice feeling burying your own mother, not knowing how she has passed.
“I’d hate to feel the way she had felt, dying basically on her own and there was no call buzzer, there was no nothing.”
The Department for Health confirmed that a “clinical review” into the incident was completed by senior clinicians from across CALHN.
They found that “the patient’s death was unavoidable given the severity of the patient’s condition, and not related to their location in the hospital”.
“CALHN operates under the SA Health Statewide Demand and Escalation Policy, which is designed to maximise hospital capacity while maintaining patient and staff safety,” Central Adelaide Local Health Network Chief Executive Officer, Dr Emma McCahon said.
“The policy requires hospitals to use strategies such as the over-census ward approach to reduce emergency department overcrowding during peak demand.”
Dr McCahon extended her “sincere condolences” to the patient’s family and said the hospital staff’s wellbeing was “always paramount”.
Originally published as Family demands answers after great-grandmother dies in Royal Adelaide Hospital corridor
