Finding into death of Veronica Therese Campbell

38y · Female·complications following a ruptured ectopic pregnancy

Veronica Campbell, age 38, died on 31 December 2008 from complications of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. She presented to Cobram District Hospital with severe pain and was diagnosed with a possible ectopic pregnancy requiring urgent transfer to Goulburn Valley Hospital. Critical failures occurred in the ambulance transfer: the case was initially prioritized as Code 2 (non-urgent), and despite multiple requests from hospital staff to upgrade to Code 1 priority when her condition deteriorated (hypotension, anaemia, blood loss), dispatchers failed to record clinical information or respond appropriately. Significant delays resulted—the initial ambulance took 1.5 hours to reach Cobram, then time was lost awaiting MICA and Air Ambulance. The coroner found the death preventable; surgery within 1–2 hours would have saved her life. Key system failures included inadequate ambulance dispatch staffing, poor communication, failure to record clinical updates, resource constraints, and lack of blood products at the rural hospital.