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Coroner's Finding: Wallace, Peter John

Deceased

Peter John Wallace

Demographics

67y, male

Date of death

2023-01-07

Finding date

2025-11-14

Cause of death

hypoxic respiratory failure in the setting of pneumonia, pulmonary embolism and multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma

AI-generated summary

Peter John Wallace, aged 67, died in custody at Lyell McEwin Hospital from hypoxic respiratory failure complicating pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, and advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. He had been imprisoned at Yatala Labour Prison and received significant medical care including chemoembolisation, radiotherapy, and endoscopy for liver cancer discovered incidentally in 2021. In December 2022, he presented with chest pain and was found to have pneumonia and pulmonary embolism. Despite anticoagulation and intensive care support, his cancer had progressed significantly and prognosis became terminal. The coroner found the standard of care throughout his imprisonment and hospitalisation was at least as high as available to the general community, with no criticisms of treatment decisions or end-of-life management.

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

Specialties

hepatologyoncologyradiation oncologyrespiratory medicineemergency medicineintensive carehaematologycorrectional health

Drugs involved

enoxaparinmetoclopramide

Clinical conditions

hepatocellular carcinomapneumoniapulmonary embolismchronic obstructive pulmonary diseasehypoxic respiratory failuretype-1 respiratory failuresyndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretionhyponatraemiahepatitis Cgastro-oesophageal reflux disease

Procedures

transarterial chemoembolisationendoscopyargon plasma coagulationablation radiotherapyCT pulmonary angiogramintubationhigh-flow oxygen therapy

Contributing factors

  • advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with progressive disease despite treatment
  • severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease limiting treatment options
  • pneumonia
  • left upper lobe pulmonary embolism
  • syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion
  • hyponatraemia
  • Type 1 respiratory failure
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