Coroner's Finding: MARSHALL Daryl Grant

61y · Male·hospital acquired pneumonia complicating aorto-femoral bypass surgery for peripheral vascular disease

A 61-year-old man with peripheral vascular disease, alcohol dependence, and heavy smoking history underwent aorto-femoral bypass surgery. Post-operatively he developed hospital-acquired pneumonia, delirium from alcohol withdrawal, and hepatic alcoholic psychopathy. He required hand restraints due to altered consciousness and aggression. After initial ICU management, he was transferred to the vascular ward on 21 August 2017 and deteriorated rapidly, dying on 23 August 2017. The coroner found his care appropriate and the death an expected complication of surgery in a high-risk patient. The family believed earlier surgical intervention and continued oxygen support might have changed the outcome, but medical evidence supported the pre-operative delay to allow smoking cessation and the surgical timing decision based on risk-benefit analysis.