Myers, Robert Hayes
Deceased
Robert Hayes Myers
Demographics
63y, male
Date of death
2005-10-14
Finding date
2009-12-16
Cause of death
Myocardial infarction as a result of long standing ischaemic heart disease and atherosclerosis
AI-generated summary
Robert Myers, a 63-year-old prisoner with long-standing ischaemic heart disease and prior coronary artery bypass grafts, died from myocardial infarction three days after discharge from the Princess Alexandra Hospital. He had been admitted on 5 October 2005 following acute cardiac arrest, treated for a lung complaint with medication adjustments, and discharged on 11 October to await outpatient echocardiogram. Expert evidence confirmed discharge was appropriate and consistent with public hospital standards. While his death was natural and unpreventable, the coroner identified procedural issues: premature movement of the body back into the cell before crime scene examination, and critical incident stress debriefing occurring before police completed staff interviews. These breached investigation protocols despite the death appearing clearly natural.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Contributing factors
- Long-standing ischaemic heart disease
- Coronary atherosclerosis
- Severe blockage in coronary artery bypass graft
- Recent myocardial infarction (7-10 days old)
- History of smoking
Coroner's recommendations
- Department of Community Safety should review its policy 'Managing traumatic events at work' to ensure that when CSIU officers are investigating an incident, staff undertake interviews with those officers prior to participating in critical incident stress de-briefing or incident de-briefing
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