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Coroner's Finding: Mrs W

Deceased

Mrs W

Demographics

63y, female

Date of death

2014-07

Finding date

2015-09-25

Cause of death

multiple severe trauma from falling tree; specifically aortic transection with mediastinal and pleural haemorrhage

AI-generated summary

A 63-year-old woman died from severe blunt trauma after being struck by a falling tree while clearing fallen trees from her driveway during extreme weather. On a morning with weather warnings, heavy rain, and wind gusts of 98kph, multiple trees fell on the property. After the weather briefly improved, she and her husband began clearing the driveway. While her husband operated a chainsaw, a fourth tree fell unexpectedly, striking Mrs W. Her husband performed immediate CPR and called emergency services within seconds, but her injuries—including aortic transection, bilateral rib fractures, sternal fracture, and torn right atrium—were non-survivable. The coroner highlighted the obvious danger posed by high winds and working around trees in such conditions.

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

Contributing factors

  • extreme weather conditions with wind gusts up to 98kph
  • decision to work outdoors clearing trees despite ongoing dangerous weather
  • proximity to unstable trees in high wind conditions
  • unpredictability of falling tree

Coroner's recommendations

  1. Warn the community generally about the danger of working in and around trees in high winds
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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.

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