Finding into death of MRWilson

43y · Male·Liver failure with cirrhosis in the setting of recent paracentesis and Hepatitis C

Mr Wilson was a 43-year-old Aboriginal man with end-stage liver cirrhosis and hepatitis C who died 18 days after emergency umbilical hernia repair and one day after paracentesis drainage of 8 litres of ascites at a rural hospital. While his death was the expected outcome of terminal liver disease and medical care was reasonable, communication gaps existed. His family and Mr Wilson had disparate understandings of his prognosis—they believed he would recover and go home, while clinicians had designated him for comfort-focused terminal care with expected survival of hours to days. Mr Wilson explicitly requested family presence when dying, but this was not communicated to staff. The coroner found care appropriate but noted that explicitly conveying imminent death prognosis to Mr Wilson would have allowed him to contact family, which would have been preferable for all involved. The death certificate initially failed to record the paracentesis and incorrectly identified him as non-Aboriginal.