Patient dies hours after misdiagnosis of abdominal pain as constipation: Inquest reveals shocking details
A PATIENT died within hours of making complaints about pain in his abdomen — which was mis-diagnosed as constipation — an inquest heard.
Roy Austin (45) was receiving treatment at Wathwood Hospital in Wath after being detained for wounding offences and mental health issues in June 2020.
He died in the early hours of April 26 last year after his condition deteriorated rapidly within a nine-hour period.
The hearing in Doncaster was told Mr Austin had been suffering from sickness, pain in his abdomen and breathing difficulties from a “cardiac event”.
Dr Kirsty Sollitt, Mr Austin’s psychiatrist at the hospital, said Mr Austin had been diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder and had suffered from suicidal thoughts and osteoarthritis, as well as a dependency on substances including black mamba, spice and heroin.
He had undergone surgery for a brain tumour in 2021 and in June that year, had told staff he had experienced suicidal thoughts and paranoia.
The court was told Mr Austin would self harm and had tried to take his own life in December 2021 medication tablets he had stored inside toilet paper, the court was told.
He was prescribed antipsychotic medication, primarily medazepam, to help with his mental healt and given medication to treat his mental state and psychosis.
By last Match, he was said to be showing signs of “improvement” and had displayed no “unusual behaviour” except for an elevated heart rate and dizziness, which were considered normal effects of taking the presribed drugs.
Dr James Staniforth said Mr Austin had reported severe abdominal pain at 3pm on April 25, at which time he had heart rate of 120 beats per minute and had felt nauseous but generally “well in himself”.
The patientn had no previous history of abdominal pain and it was assessed as constipation — a normal side effect of taking the drug clozapine.
Dr Staniforth said he had advised Mr Austin to take laxatives, fluids and paracetamol as he may have “struggled to pass wind”.
But at 10.15pm, Dr Staniforth was called back to the ward after Mr Austin told nurses it was “too painful” to get out of bed.
The doctor said Mr Austin had been responding to commands but had continued to experience pain, nausea and slurred speech, and he had vomited when attempts were made to help him out of bed.
By 11.19pm, Mr Austin’s condition had become unresponsive and he was given CPR, the inquest heard, but a defibrillator was not used because Mr Austin’s cardiac rhythm was deemed “unshockable”.
Paramedics arrived and gave the patient adrenaline but he died at 12.06am.
Pathologist Dr Laszlo Karsai gave a medical cause of death as severe arrhythmia from a bowel infarction.
The Doncaster Coroner, Ms Louise Slater, said she was satisfied that Mr Austin had died from natural causes and staff at the hospital had done “everything in their power” to support Mr Austin.