Coronial
VIChospital

Finding into death of Eileen May Howell

Deceased

EILEEN MAY HOWELL

Demographics

68y, female

Date of death

2008-12-27

Finding date

2010-05-20

Cause of death

intracerebral haemorrhage

AI-generated summary

Eileen May Howell, a 68-year-old woman with intellectual disability and history of cerebral haemorrhage in 2004, suffered a fatal intracerebral haemorrhage on 25 December 2008 while at her brother's home. She had been predicted to have another stroke within five years of her first event. No warning signs were noted by carers or family in the preceding weeks, except for being slightly slower and quieter. She was admitted to ICU at Western Hospital but died two days later. The coroner found no evidence that her death was causally related to her status in Department of Human Services care. No systemic failures in care delivery were identified. This case illustrates the natural progression of cerebrovascular disease in patients with prior haemorrhagic stroke and the limited preventability of recurrent events despite appropriate monitoring.

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

Contributing factors

  • history of previous cerebral haemorrhage in 2004
  • known prognosis of likely recurrent stroke within five years
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; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. 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 —