Finding into death of Le Hue Huynh

Contributing factors

• thunderstorm asthma event with unprecedented surge in ambulance demand
• poorly controlled asthma with sub-optimal preventer medication use
• reliance on reliever medication (salbutamol) without regular inhaled corticosteroid
• high sensitization to rye grass pollen
• hay fever
• absence of asthma action plan or management plan
• no lung function testing despite history of exacerbations
• exposure to outdoor environment during thunderstorm asthma event
• delayed ambulance response due to system-wide surge
• rapid onset severe asthma attack (approximately 15 minutes from complaint to respiratory arrest)
• difficult intubation with prolonged resuscitation time

Coroner's recommendations

1. Further research into the specific meteorological, biological and aerobiological factors that combine to create thunderstorm asthma events to improve predictability and forecasting accuracy
2. Continued development and verification of the thunderstorm asthma forecasting system
3. Continued public awareness campaigns by DHHS regarding thunderstorm asthma, asthma action plans, and the link between hay fever and thunderstorm asthma
4. Further medical, allied health and community education encouraging hay fever sufferers to undergo allergy testing to understand their susceptibility to thunderstorm asthma and inform clinical management
5. When a thunderstorm asthma warning is issued, those at risk should remain indoors with windows and doors shut, turn off evaporative cooling or systems that draw in outside air, and/or travel to/from work later
6. Address the current limitation that callers during high-demand periods cannot receive estimated time of arrival information for ambulances to enable informed decisions about alternative transport to hospital