Coroner's Finding: Kalompratsos, Maria
Deceased
Maria Kalompratsos
Demographics
90y, female
Date of death
2023-10-22
Finding date
2026-10-23
Cause of death
Aspiration pneumonia secondary to choking, on a background of Alzheimer's dementia
AI-generated summary
Maria Kalompratsos, aged 90, died from aspiration pneumonia following a choking incident at St Basil's aged care facility. She had advanced Alzheimer's dementia with mild oropharyngeal dysphagia, appropriately managed through a modified diet based on speech pathology assessment in September 2022. While eating lunch on 18 October 2023, she choked on a Brussels sprout. A care worker identified the problem within 35 seconds and nursing staff responded promptly. A paramedic removed the vegetable using a laryngoscope, CPR was performed, and spontaneous circulation was restored after 12 minutes. She was transferred to Royal Adelaide Hospital, developed widespread aspiration pneumonia, and transitioned to palliative care, dying four days later. The coroner found no safety issues: food preparation met dysphagia guidelines, supervision was adequate, and the emergency response was exemplary. No recommendations were made. This case illustrates that despite comprehensive safeguards and specialist assessment, aspiration remains an inherent risk in elderly patients with dementia.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Mild oropharyngeal dysphagia
- Alzheimer's dementia with cognitive decline
- Choking on Brussels sprout during meal
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease
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; where a court PDF has technically defective redaction, the hidden text is removed from our archived copy and the full text is withheld. 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 —