Doctor claims 55-year-old man may have been alive when sent to Perth morgue
A palliative care patient may have been alive when he was transferred to a Perth morgue, according to claims being investigated by the coroner’s court.
The court has confirmed it is investigating the allegations, first reported by Business News, which include claims a doctor was asked to backdate the man’s death certificate in an apparent attempt to cover up the incident.
“After receiving notification from a doctor at the Rockingham hospital … of the death of a 55-year-old man, the coroner’s court on Monday, 3 October, commenced to investigate whether the death is a reportable death,” a spokeswoman said.
“The court does not make public any of those investigations.”
It is alleged in the Business News report that the patient was still alive when placed in a body bag without a death certificate having been issued on the night of 5 September.
A doctor at Rockingham General hospital was asked to certify the death a day later and allegedly discovered fresh blood on the man’s hospital gown from a tear to one of his arms.
The man’s eyes were open, two limbs had shifted position and the body bag was unzipped, according to the report.
“I believe the frank blood from a new skin tear, arm position and eye signs were inconsistent with a person who was post-mortem on arrival at the morgue,” the doctor said in a report to the coroner, according to the Business News story.
Other staff reportedly confirmed the man’s eyes had been closed and he had been dressed in a clean gown before being moved from a ward to the morgue, prompting the doctor to record the death as having occurred on 6 September.
When a funeral director questioned the date on the death certificate, the doctor was allegedly asked by hospital officials to backdate the death.
He refused and is reported to have since quit his post at the hospital.
The health minister, Amber-Jade Sanderson, and the South Metropolitan Health Service have been contacted for comment.
The opposition health spokeswoman, Libby Mettam, said the allegations were deeply disturbing and warranted a thorough and transparent investigation.
Any allegations of serious misconduct should be referred to the Corruption and Crime Commission, she said.