Finding into death of Trendafil Petrovski

78y · Male·head injury sustained when struck by a car

A 78-year-old man with a history of gastric cancer, depression, and splenectomy was struck by a car while crossing a street in Sydenham. He sustained severe head injury with bilateral frontal and temporal haemorrhagic contusions and skull fractures. Despite emergency transport to Royal Melbourne Hospital, neurosurgery, craniotomy and haematoma evacuation, he developed progressive intracranial pressure elevation and new parenchymal haemorrhage. He was extubated and died approximately 16 hours post-injury. The collision appears to have been unavoidable—the driver was attentive, sober, and unlicensed. The coroner identified a road design issue at the intersection (bottleneck with unclear right-of-way signage) as a contributing environmental factor, rather than any medical mismanagement.