Coroner's Finding: SOMMERVILLE Adam

73y · Male·metastatic small cell lung cancer and sepsis

A 73-year-old man with metastatic small cell lung cancer and sepsis died in Royal Adelaide Hospital while in prison custody. He had been sentenced in May 2015 and received appropriate oncology care including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and palliative care both in prison health services and at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. His non-parole period was reduced due to his poor health prognosis. The coroner found that care provided by SA Prison Health Service and the hospital was appropriate. While his partner raised concerns about prison conditions, these were not substantiated. The death resulted from natural progression of advanced cancer with superimposed sepsis, and no clinical management failures were identified.