‘Substandard’: Coroner slams Launceston General Hospital’s record-keeping after patient death

“Accurate, comprehensive and legible medical records must be kept in relation to treatment received by all patients at all times.” Coroner slams LGH’s record-keeping after woman’s death.

Launceston General Hospital. Picture: Amber Wilson

Launceston General Hospital has been slammed by a coroner for its “substandard” record-keeping after an elderly woman died in its care.

Coroner Simon Cooper, in his findings released on Friday, said the woman’s treatment was potentially compromised because critical information wasn’t recorded along the way.

He also said the lack of available and accurate documentation had made his investigation into her death “extremely difficult”.

The 83-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, died at the hospital in September 2022 from cardiac tamponade – heart compression due to fluid build-up.

Mr Cooper said the woman arrived at the hospital by ambulance in the early hours of September 11 after developing chest pain, with a CT scan carried out two hours later.

The coroner said the scan was not reported to show the condition she’d suffered the day before.

He said she should have undergone an urgent echocardiogram, “particularly in light of her complex history”, however it was not clear from her medical records whether or not this happened.

Mr Cooper said her records were “deficient in several aspects” including electrocardiograms, echocardiogram reports, procedure and medical notes related to decision-making in her treatment.

She died at 9pm that night.

Mr Cooper said the lack of critical documentation about the woman’s testing and treatment made investigation of her death circumstances “practically impossible”.

He said, for example, that it appeared fluid surrounding the woman’s heart was removed the day before her death by a registrar supervised by an emergency physician guided by an echocardiogram.

But he said there were no records of an echocardiogram, or any information casting light on why a registrar – and not an experienced cardiologist – carried out the procedure.

“The circumstances of (the woman’s) death require me to comment … that accurate, comprehensive and legible medical records must be kept in relation to treatment received by all patients at all times,” Mr Cooper said.

He made no formal recommendations.

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