Finding into death of Andrew Pollock

55y · Male·Pneumonia, bone marrow failure and metastatic carcinoma of unknown origin

Andrew Pollock, a 55-year-old man with Down syndrome living in supported accommodation, presented with chest pain and abdominal pain on 26 May 2011. He had been reviewed at Federation Clinic on 23 May for lower respiratory tract infection and prescribed antibiotics. On presentation to Wodonga Hospital ED, he was admitted with ongoing abdominal pain. He deteriorated with respiratory failure from pneumonia, complicated by pancytopenia. Bone marrow biopsy revealed metastatic adenocarcinoma of unknown primary with bone marrow failure. He was transferred to ICU at Albury Base Hospital where advanced metastatic cancer was confirmed. After family discussion, comfort care was instituted and he died on 6 June 2011. The coroner found no issues with clinical management; the diagnosis of advanced malignancy was made late but this reflects the aggressive nature of the underlying cancer rather than diagnostic or procedural error.