Deceased
MQ
Demographics
55y, female
Coroner
Decision ofDeputy State Coroner Lee
Date of death
2023-03-02
Finding date
2025-12-17
Cause of death
acute necrotising bronchopneumonia
AI-generated summary
MQ, 55, died of acute necrotising bronchopneumonia on 2-3 March 2023. She had developed community-acquired pneumonia from 21 February 2023, presenting initially with referred shoulder pain (later recognised as diaphragmatic irritation), progressing to dyspnoea, malaise and cough. She attended two telehealth GP appointments but did not receive face-to-face assessment or investigation despite colleagues expressing serious concern for serious cardiopulmonary pathology. Critical clinical lesson: MQ's symptoms were consistent with severe bronchopneumonia yet she was not escalated for urgent in-person assessment; GPs should have insisted on face-to-face evaluation given dyspnoea and hypoxia risk. Police delay in welfare check (8:29pm 2 March to 8:05am 3 March) prevented potential early hospital admission; though not certainly preventable, admission would have enabled IV antibiotics and oxygen therapy that might have materially altered disease progression.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes. Report an inaccuracy.
Specialties
Error types
Clinical conditions
Male·Gunshot wounds to the head
This inquest examined deaths of Noah Smith (15) and Wayne Smith (58) on 1 June 2023. Wayne had 20-year history of chronic depression and suicidal ideation, including severe crisis in May 2020 with suicide plans. He recov…
42y · Female·hypovolaemic shock due to an acute ruptured subcapsular splenic haematoma in the…
Eve Brown, a 42-year-old Aboriginal woman, died of hypovolaemic shock from a ruptured splenic haematoma in the context of urosepsis at a regional hospital. She presented with UTI symptoms and was admitted to Lightning Ri…
58y · Male·acute myocardial infarction caused by ischaemic heart disease
Gregory Merriman, a 58-year-old Aboriginal man, died from acute myocardial infarction caused by advanced ischaemic heart disease while in custody at Metropolitan Reception and Remand Centre on 27 December 2022. He experi…
Source and disclaimer
This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.
Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. Some material may have been redacted or restricted by court order or privacy requirements. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.
Copyright in original materials remains with the relevant government jurisdiction. AI-generated summaries and tagging are for educational purposes only, may contain inaccuracies, and must not be treated as legal documents. We welcome feedback for correction — report an inaccuracy here.