Finding into death of Ella Felicity Hitchen
Deceased
Ella Felicity Hitchen
Demographics
32y, female
Date of death
2020-10-29
Cause of death
Aspiration pneumonia with severe cerebral palsy as underlying condition
AI-generated summary
Ella Hitchen was a 32-year-old woman with severe cerebral palsy, quadraplegia, intellectual disability, vision impairment, epilepsy and dysphagia who died from aspiration pneumonia. She had a PEG tube inserted in 2011 due to aspiration risk. Following a previous aspiration pneumonia admission in November 2019, a suctioning machine was provided and staff were trained. She was admitted on 18 October 2020 with shortness of breath, discharged on antibiotics, then readmitted on 27 October 2020 with deterioration. A decision was made not to escalate treatment but to provide comfort care. The coroner found all care provided by parents, group home staff and St Vincent's clinicians was reasonable and appropriate. The clinical lesson is that despite preventive measures (PEG tube, suctioning equipment, staff training), aspiration pneumonia remained a significant risk in this population, highlighting the ongoing challenge of managing aspiration risk in severely disabled individuals.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- dysphagia secondary to severe cerebral palsy
- aspiration risk
- recurrent aspiration pneumonia
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