Coroner's Finding: Boon Alison Kim

51y · Female·peritoneal sepsis with multiple organ failure due to perforation of bowel by foreign object

A 51-year-old woman with intellectual disability and schizoaffective disorder died from peritoneal sepsis and multiple organ failure caused by bowel perforation from a wooden stick. The stick entered her body via her vaginal canal. She presented with abdominal pain on 15 May 2018 and underwent emergency laparotomy; initial surgery missed the bowel perforation due to pelvic adhesions. A second operation identified and resected the perforation, but sepsis developed despite intervention. The coroner could not determine whether insertion was voluntary, consensual, or non-consensual. Clinically, earlier identification of the perforation and more aggressive source control might have altered outcomes, though her vulnerable mental health status and inability to provide coherent history complicated initial assessment.