Coroner's Finding: Rickard-Simms, Adrienne Rosemary

75y · Female·postoperative delirium/exacerbation of community acquired pneumonia following left hip bipolar hemiarthroplasty for neck of femur fracture

A 75-year-old woman with chronic kidney disease, anemia, and significant mobility impairment fell in her aged care facility despite documented high falls risk and appropriate preventive measures. She sustained a neck of femur fracture requiring hemiarthroplasty. Postoperatively, she developed delirium, sepsis, and community-acquired pneumonia, leading to her death. The coroner found the facility had appropriately assessed falls risk, implemented reasonable environmental modifications, and documented the patient's non-compliance with assistance-seeking behavior. The death resulted from complications of the necessary surgical intervention for the fracture, not from failures in aged care management.