Coroner's Finding: HYNES Centella Theresa

50y · Female·respiratory arrest on a background of left lower lobe pneumonia in a person with schizoaffective disorder, pulmonary hypertension and intellectual disability

Centella Theresa Hynes, a 50-year-old woman with schizoaffective disorder, intellectual disability, and primary pulmonary hypertension, died from respiratory arrest due to left lower lobe pneumonia while detained under mental health legislation. She had been diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension in 2000, deemed unsuitable for heart-lung transplantation due to obesity and psychiatric illness. Following escalating psychiatric symptoms and agitation in early March 2003, she was detained under the Mental Health Act. A palliative care order was appropriately established on 10 March 2003. She developed pneumonia on 24 March and died the following day. The coroner found that Ms Hynes received appropriate and skilled medical care throughout her illness and detention. This case highlights the complexity of managing patients with multiple comorbidities including serious psychiatric illness, chronic progressive cardiac disease, and obesity, and the importance of early palliative care planning in such cases.