Inquest into the Death of Daniel Allan Sullivan

48y · Male·Hypoxic brain injury following cardiac arrest in a patient with sigmoid colon volvulus (acute bowel ischaemia) and sepsis

Daniel Allan Sullivan, a 48-year-old man with chronic paranoid schizophrenia who had been an involuntary patient at Graylands Hospital for 23 years, presented to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on 13 June 2004 with abdominal pain and signs of acute bowel obstruction. Initial assessment identified sigmoid volvulus on imaging. He deteriorated with oxygen desaturation and suffered a cardiac arrest on 15 June 2004, requiring resuscitation. Emergency laparotomy revealed ischaemic sigmoid colon which was surgically resected. Despite successful surgery, the prolonged hypoxia from cardiac arrest resulted in severe hypoxic brain injury. He remained in ICU with minimal neurological recovery and was extubated on 20 June 2004, dying that evening. The coroner found his supervision, treatment and care were adequate and the death arose from natural causes.