Finding into death of Susanna Curcio

AI-generated summary

A 53-year-old woman with intellectual disability, schizoaffective disorder and progressive neurological decline presented to hospital with fevers and was extensively investigated over four months for septic arthritis and pneumonia. Multiple specialist teams including general medicine, infectious diseases, orthopaedic surgery, and rheumatology participated in multidisciplinary meetings to guide management, but a definitive diagnosis could not be established despite serial imaging, biopsies, and prolonged IV antibiotics. Clinical presentation was atypical—blood cultures remained negative and imaging showed unusual features inconsistent with typical septic arthritis. The patient's condition slowly deteriorated until acute respiratory compromise, likely aspiration, led to death from pneumonia and septic arthritis. Clinical lesson: complex disability cases with atypical presentations require sustained specialist collaboration and serial imaging to guide empirical treatment, even when definitive diagnosis remains elusive; clear prognostication and discussion of goals of care become essential when investigation and initial treatment strategies are inconclusive.

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