Inquest into the death of Anthony Faulkner
Deceased
Anthony Graham Greig Faulkner
Demographics
42y, male
Date of death
2013-09-23
Finding date
2015-01-21
Cause of death
Sudden cardiac death in the context of schizophrenia
AI-generated summary
Anthony Graham Greig Faulkner, a 42-year-old man with longstanding schizophrenia (formerly diagnosed as bipolar disorder), died suddenly on 23 September 2013 while an involuntary psychiatric patient at Cowdy Ward, Royal Darwin Hospital. He had been admitted on 8 August 2013 and was in the process of being stabilised on Paliperidone after non-compliance with Risperidone. In mid-September, he developed a fever with elevated sodium levels attributed to dehydration, which was being investigated and improving. He was found unresponsive at approximately 6:55am and pronounced dead at 7:16am. Autopsy revealed sudden cardiac death as the mechanism, occurring in the context of schizophrenia. The coroner found no evidence of medical mismanagement or preventable factors. Appropriate psychiatric and medical care was provided; nursing observations were adequate given the sudden nature of the event. No procedural lapses contributed to the death.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Drugs involved
Contributing factors
- Schizophrenia (underlying morbid condition)
- Cardiac arrhythmia as final mechanism
- Slightly enlarged heart with microscopic evidence of cardiac myocyte enlargement
- Coronary artery disease insufficiently severe to explain death alone
Full text
Related cases
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. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. 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 —