Finding into death of Cecil John Dunne
Deceased
Cecil John Dunne
Demographics
86y, male
Date of death
2011-01-05
Finding date
2011-11-07
Cause of death
head injury (acute intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage)
AI-generated summary
An 86-year-old man with recurrent falls history was admitted to hospital after a fall at home. He was initially assessed as low falls risk (11/20 on FRAT) but then reassessed as medium risk. Despite falls interventions including observation, he had an unwitnessed fall outside his room at 2:35am on day 2, resulting in acute intracerebral and subarachnoid haemorrhage. He deteriorated and died. The coroner identified that the initial FRAT assessment may have been inaccurate due to insufficient information about his falls history from family members. Key clinical lessons: obtain collateral history from family about falls frequency and pattern, recognise that recurrent falls warrant higher risk stratification, ensure early senior review after in-hospital falls in elderly patients on anticoagulation, and implement appropriate supervision protocols for high-risk patients.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Procedures
Contributing factors
- inaccurate falls risk assessment on admission
- insufficient information from family members about falls history
- falls risk interventions may have been inadequate given actual falls history
- unwitnessed fall outside hospital room
- warfarin therapy increasing haemorrhage risk
- cognitive impairment and agitation
Coroner's recommendations
- Falls Risk Assessments should include, where possible, obtaining information additional to the patient's own account from relevant family members to ensure accuracy of falls history
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