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Coroner's Finding: Dunn, Julie Michele

Deceased

Julie Michele Dunn

Demographics

56y, female

Date of death

2019-09-11

Finding date

2022-03-30

Cause of death

sepsis secondary to disseminated pancreatic adenocarcinoma

AI-generated summary

Julie Michele Dunn, a 56-year-old female prisoner, died of sepsis secondary to disseminated pancreatic adenocarcinoma. She had presented months earlier with gastrointestinal symptoms (weight loss, nausea, vomiting, epigastric burning) initially attributed to relapse of eating disorder in context of life stress. Abnormal liver function tests in August 2019 prompted appropriate escalation with imaging revealing advanced pancreatic cancer with hepatic and pulmonary metastases. The coroner found no deficiency in care; diagnosis timing was not unreasonable given the diagnostic difficulty of pancreatic cancer and the confounding clinical picture of psychiatric illness. Care at Lyell McEwin Hospital was appropriate throughout. The coroner made no recommendations.

AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.

Contributing factors

  • advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer
  • hepatic metastases
  • pulmonary metastases
  • blocked common bile duct
  • bilateral pulmonary emboli
  • diagnostic delay due to confounding psychiatric symptoms
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