Deceased
Michael Robert Burns
Demographics
58y, male
Coroner
Coroner Audrey Jamieson
Date of death
2023-08-26
Finding date
2026-02-11
Cause of death
Pulmonary thromboembolism complicating right calf deep venous thrombosis
AI-generated summary
Michael Burns, 58, presented to hospital with exertional chest pain and shortness of breath. He was diagnosed with stable angina and discharged home on cardiac medications. He returned the next day with dizziness attributed to beta-blocker side effects and was again discharged. He died at home from pulmonary embolism. The coroner found that while his presentation was atypical of PE, there was conflicting evidence about whether the Wells score was applied. If it was applied (with a score of zero), clinical guidelines required D-dimer testing; this test would likely have been positive and led to further imaging, potentially identifying the PE before it became fatal. Poor medical documentation hampered the investigation. Key clinical lessons: maintain high suspicion for PE in patients with chest pain and dyspnea; correctly apply risk stratification tools; admit patients with new cardiac symptoms for monitoring; recognize that small PEs may only cause symptoms on exertion.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes. Report an inaccuracy.
Specialties
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Procedures
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55y · Male·Acute myocardial infarction secondary to coronary artery thrombosis due to coron…
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