Launceston General Hospital criticised after man discharged and died from heart attack the same night

Launceston General Hospital has yet again been the subject of a coronial investigation, with a man dying of a heart attack the same day he was discharged. WHAT HAPPENED >>

LAUNCESTON General Hospital has again come under fire following another death under its watch.

On the night of July 10, 2019, Gordon Arthur David Mitchell died from a heart attack at his George Town home after being discharged by hospital staff earlier the same day.

In his findings published on Wednesday, Coroner Simon Cooper said a few days before his death, Mr Mitchell became unresponsive and was taken to the LGH emergency department.

The 54-year-old had suffered a heart attack and underwent a procedure to place a stent in his right coronary artery.

Mr Mitchell was discharged a few days later with a number of medications, but on the way home developed chest pain, shortness of breath, and cold sweats.

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He was transported urgently back to the LGH via ambulance, where upon arrival his heart rhythm had become abnormal.

He was discharged from hospital two days later, but sadly collapsed and died the same night.

The coroner said Mr Mitchell’s first admission to the LGH and discharge was appropriate, but “the same cannot be said” regarding his second admission and discharge.

A medical advisor to the coronial division, Luke Galligan, said Mr Mitchell’s abnormal heart rhythm a few days after his heart attack was a “much more threatening prognosis” than this occurring a few hours afterwards.

“The risk that this posed to his life appears not to have been recognised,” Mr Cooper said.

“At the very least, Mr Mitchell should have been monitored in hospital for a longer period. There is a strong argument for the insertion of a defibrillator – something that does not appear to have even been considered.”

Mr Cooper said the LGH said it would provide comments for the coronial investigation, but “it did not”.

Dr Galligan noted that access to specialist cardiological advice and intervention was not routinely available in rural Australia, including in Launceston.

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He suggested it would be relatively easy to set up a system where one or two cardiologists, covering the whole country after-hours, could provide immediate reviews of patients’ electrocardiograms.

LGH medical services executive director Peter Renshaw said the Department of Health was committed to continuous improvement and would “carefully consider” the coroner’s report.

In recent years, the LGH has also been criticised over a number of deaths, including the January 2021 death of Longford man Peter Dahlvid in what his family described as a “storeroom” at the LGH.

The LGH was also slammed for the Boxing Day 2020 death of Deloraine woman Helen Badcock, after being misdiagnosed and discharged.

In January 2018, the LGH was blamed for the “entirely avoidable” death of 56-year-old Graeme Charles Davis from sepsis.

In September 2020, several of Tasmania’s most senior doctors pleaded for urgent action to improve standards at the LGH, saying it was “unsafe for patients” and that “patients have died unnecessarily”.

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