Inquest into the death of Sean WAYGOOD
Deceased
Sean Laurence Waygood
Demographics
47y, male
Date of death
2014-03-18
Finding date
2015-06-16
Cause of death
acute renal failure caused by bilateral ureteral obstruction due to metastatic colorectal carcinoma
AI-generated summary
Sean Waygood, an Extreme High Security prisoner, died from acute renal failure caused by metastatic colorectal cancer. He presented with abdominal pain, constipation, and blood per rectum in March 2011 but received suboptimal assessment. Two visiting medical officers failed to include bowel cancer in their differential diagnosis despite his symptoms and clinical findings. The coroner found this care suboptimal but acknowledged that earlier diagnosis would unlikely have changed the outcome. After hospital admission on 20 March 2011, Mr Waygood received high-standard oncology care including surgery, chemotherapy, and palliative management. Security status did not compromise medical care access. The case highlights diagnostic challenges in custodial settings and the importance of considering serious pathology when patients present with alarm symptoms like rectal bleeding.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- delayed diagnosis of colorectal cancer in March 2011
- suboptimal assessment by visiting medical officers who failed to consider bowel cancer in differential diagnosis
- failure to adequately investigate frank blood per rectum and constellation of abdominal symptoms
- limited access to imaging and diagnostic facilities in prison setting
- initial presentation in 2010 with non-specific abdominal symptoms that resolved, delaying suspicion of serious pathology
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