Coronial
WAhospital

Inquest into the Death of Adrian Bernard Williams

Deceased

Adrian Bernard Williams

Demographics

60y, male

Date of death

2013-04-14

Finding date

2014-07-22

Cause of death

pneumonia in a man with underlying advanced metastatic cancer and chronic airways disease

AI-generated summary

Adrian Bernard Williams, a 60-year-old man with advanced metastatic cancer, chronic obstructive airways disease, and ischaemic heart disease, died from pneumonia while in prison custody. He was appropriately classified as terminally ill and placed in the prison infirmary. During his final hospitalisation at Royal Perth Hospital, he received palliative chemotherapy, non-invasive ventilation, antibiotics, and steroids. The coroner found the quality of supervision, treatment and care in custody was appropriate and equal to community care standards. His death was from natural causes. Clinical lessons include recognition of palliative care needs in custodial settings, appropriate escalation of terminally ill prisoners to specialised facilities, and ensuring continuity of cancer and respiratory care during incarceration. No preventable clinical errors were identified.

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

Contributing factors

  • advanced metastatic cancer
  • chronic obstructive airways disease
  • ischaemic heart disease
  • Haemophilus influenzae infection
  • emphysema
Full text

Related cases

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. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. 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 —