Coronial
VIChospital

Finding into death of Lance Robert Nikkelson

Deceased

Lance Robert Nikkelson

Demographics

47y, male

Coroner

Coroner John Olle

Date of death

2019-06-16

Finding date

2020-06-09

Cause of death

Complications of cirrhosis and metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma

AI-generated summary

Lance Robert Nikkelson, a 47-year-old Aboriginal man in prison custody, died from complications of cirrhosis and metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma. He presented with abdominal pain in May 2019, initially assessed as constipation, but was subsequently transferred to hospital where end-stage liver disease and widespread metastases were diagnosed. His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was palliated. The coroner found that care provided by the Department of Justice and St Vincent's Hospital was reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances. Medical non-compliance with assessments and treatment prevented earlier diagnosis of his liver disease. No adverse findings were made against clinicians, and the death was attributed to natural causes with no preventable factors identified.

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

Specialties

hepatologyoncologypalliative careemergency medicineforensic medicine

Error types

diagnostic

Drugs involved

methadonemidazolamoxazepammetoclopramideondansetron

Clinical conditions

hepatitis Cliver cirrhosishepatocellular carcinomaportal vein thrombosisend-stage liver diseasemetastatic canceropioid dependency

Procedures

abdominal ultrasoundliver biopsy

Contributing factors

  • hepatitis C infection (untreated)
  • liver cirrhosis
  • non-compliance with medical assessments and treatment
  • delayed diagnosis due to initial misattribution of symptoms to constipation
  • portal vein thrombosis
  • lung metastases
Full text

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. Some material may have been redacted or restricted by court order or privacy requirements. 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 — report an inaccuracy here.