"A young man who died, essentially, from an infected toenail, from the consequences of an untreated and very common infection. Ms Edwards asked Ms Murphy whether it was still the case that a nurse with three years of experience could be caring for nine patients. Mr McLean says staff had to provide life support before Alex could be put on the plane. His inquest has heard a full set of vital. Instead, medical staff in the emergency department made the assumption Alex had a sporting injury. What health. A NSW coronial inquest is examining the care Mr Braes received at Broken Hill Hospital, why his vital signs weren't taken until his third visit to the emergency department in two days and why it took hours for the 18-year-old to be medically evacuated out of the country town. It grieves his parents deeply that they were not able to be with him in his last conscious hours, Ryan said. By the time Alex was diagnosed with a bacterial infection he was in septic shock and needed to be medically evacuated to Adelaide. Alex Braes. ': Teen searched internet before dying of suspected toenail infection, inquest hears, Doctor tells inquest why he can't celebrate his birthday since teenager's death, Inquest begins into teen's death from infected toenail, The death of Alex Braes still haunts doctors who didn't even know him, Outside her tent, next to a popular city walking track, homeless Tasha is past caring what people think. Alex's mother was left standing outside near the airport tarmac for hours as Alex, still back at the hospital, fought for his life. In the small hours of a Wednesday in an outback town, a teenager struggled to sleep. Deputy State Coroner Magistrate, Elizabeth Ryan, asked Ms Murphy whether the rule resulted in fewer cases of vital signs being taken and recorded at the hospital once implemented. "What I do know is it was not a satisfactory outcome and that's why when I heard about it from the doctors, I had the ministry go back out there, go through it, and determine why this had been downgraded," he said. Thirty-three hours after he had first presented to Broken Hill Hospital, hospital staff finally did vital-signs observations. Broken Hill teenager Alex Braes, who died of an infected toenail. Elizabeth Keft returned, with IV bag in hand, to see doctors and nurses working on Braes in a resuscitation bay. She also stressed within the delivery of the inquest's findings that doctors and nurses who attended to Mr Braes in Broken Hill were neither unprofessional or uncaring. He went into cardiac arrest. "Because it's not good enough in 2019 to have people in the far west of New South Wales having worse health outcomes than people in the city.". Findings and upcoming inquests - Coroners Court Inquest findings (since 2004) as well as non-inquest public interest matters (since 2012) are available below. 00:00. The 18-year-old TAFE student's death was featured in a Four Corners report, which revealed he presented to Broken Hill Hospital's emergency department four times before vital signs observations were administered. The pathologist creates a written record of the autopsy findings, including the microscopic and laboratory tests. "But the source of that infection was never confirmed, as I understandbecause an autopsy was not performed. Dr Greenberg said the teenager was in a "relatively good" conditionfor someone who was critically ill. "Certainly other hospitals will highlight a second presentation or third presentation, [to ask] 'have we missed something?'" Mr McLean says by this stage Alex's third presentation alarm bells should have been ringing. "Alex was semi-conscious, he was rambling, he wasn't responding to simple questions," Dr O'Donohoe said. A raised temperature is a key indicator of infection. "It means he'd been unwell for a significant number of hours at that point.". Registered nurse Kristy Kelly, who was the team leader in the hospital's emergency department on the morning of September 21, 2017, told the inquest she was bound by that rule. Coroner training overview. and Fire at Capertree Directions Hearing Forensic Medicine and Coroner's Court Complex, 1A Main Ave, Lidcombe Courtroom 2 at 9:30am Before her Honour Magistrate Forbes, Deputy State Coroner Wednesday 1 March 2023 Alex Braes, 18, had significant knee pain when he first presented to Broken Hill Hospital in the early hours of September 20, 2017. The highly experienced clinician also took time at the end of his testimony to address the Braes family directly. Alex's ultrasound showed a possible torn tendon and again Alex was sent home and told to rest, ice and elevate his leg and to come back in two weeks if the pain hadn't stopped. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures released in July show the further Australians live from capital cities, the higher the rate of potentially avoidable deaths. He was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney but went into cardiac arrest and died soon after arriving during the early hours of September 22, 2017. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/alex-braes-inquest-findings-health-systems-criticised/101109422, Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app, Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article, China leaving US behind on development of critical technologies, report finds, Former minister takes 'absolute responsibility' for Robodebt, admits defending scheme despite knowing it could be unlawful, 'Sickening, callous and brazen': Sydney man dies in hail of bullets in front of 12yo son, Evelyn worked three jobs when she was in her 20s to build up her super. But questions are expected to continue about the handling of Alex Braes' case. A shortage of resources was one factor contributing to Mr Braes' death, Ms Kelly said. "And my greatest sympathy and sorrow, actually, to his family. Sign up here. "He was cold, clammy, sweaty and he was significantly blue and mottled and this mottling colour is really a very ominous feature. Alex Braes (Credit: ABC "Four Corners," family photograph) The death has traumatised Braes' family and hospital staff alike. Broken Hill teenagerAlex Braes, who died of an infected toenail. The inquest heard that the rule stated, in effect, that 'clinical observations of a patient should only be taken if vital signs influenced the assigned triage category a patient had been given.'. Now she believes she's being penalised, Australia loses first wicket on day two but still on top in Indore, ADF aircraft, personnel to assist evacuation of hundreds from flooded NT remote communities, Rajwinder Singh expected to be charged with murder of Cairns woman Toyah Cordingley tonight, police say, Watch Australia's economic challenges unfold in five graphs, 'Weight of the dead on my shoulders': Academic breaks down at gay hate deaths inquiry, Girl's thumb replaced with toe after gruesome surgical error, Half-marathon runner dies after broken leg misdiagnosed three times. "This was a seriousand unacceptabledeficiency in his care and it was a missed opportunity to identify his underlying, evolving illness," she said. It was a call made far more difficult due to a lack of available pilots at the RFDS base in Broken Hill that day. Alex's father wheeled him into the emergency department and a nurse observed him through a window and asked him to wait. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Alex Braes, 18, died at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital about 46 hours after limping into Broken Hill Base Hospital at 3am on September 20, 2017. One matter consistently raised throughout the week's proceedings was a business rule then in place at Broken Hill Hospital when Mr Braes presented there four times in September 2017. There was no "grab and go" for Alex and that would have devastating consequences. Doctors at the hospital initially suspected that Braes' pain was caused by a ruptured tendon even though the teen's father mentioned he did not play sports, a report by the Sydney Morning Herald said. Tragically, what worked against Mr Braeswas his overall health and age, the inquest heard. Broken Hill teenager Alex Braes' parents remember him as a ray of sunshine, a funny and smart . Part 1 Requesting the Autopsy Report 1 Understand the purpose of an autopsy. Coroner in Alex Braes inquest scathing of care at Broken Hill Hospital provided to 18yo who died of sepsis, Follow the action from the third Test between India and Australia in Delhi in our live blog, Former government services minister Stuart Robert is being questioned at theRobodebt inquiry, Keep up with the latest ASX and business news. Alex Braes died at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after going to another hospital four times. Coroner's report into the death of Amy Robsart, August 1561 (KB 9/1073/f.80) For all that she liked to keep foreign suitors in play, Elizabeth was already deeply in love with her Master of Horse, Robert Dudley. Doctors identified necrotising fasciitis, a deadly, flesh-eating disease, from an infected toenail in the teenager. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/alex-braes-infected-toenail-inquest-ends/100091576, Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app, China leaving US behind on development of critical technologies, report finds, Former minister takes 'absolute responsibility' for Robodebt, admits defending scheme despite knowing it could be unlawful, 'Sickening, callous and brazen': Sydney man dies in hail of bullets in front of 12yo son, Evelyn worked three jobs when she was in her 20s to build up her super. A coroner has blasted a NSW hospital for attempting to avoid an investigation into a teenager's death from sepsis after he was sent home from its emergency department, finding efforts to deny the significance of the tragedy inexcusable and deeply distressing to his family. "What are we doing about avoidable deaths, preventable deaths?" These figures meant the odds were against Alex Braes from the start. The doctor was considering amputating 18-year-old Alex Braes' leg after he went into septic shock in . It's something that troubles local MP Roy Butler. Bol says B sample clears him of doping positive. There was no autopsy so the cause of death cannot be definitively determined, Ms Edwards said. About 21 hours after he first presented to the emergency department, and with 12 hours left to live, the treatment of the 18-year-old was handed over to the chief medical officer of the Royal Flying DoctorService (RFDS). Mr Braes died a little more than an hour after being admitted. "Yes that's my understanding," replied Ms Anderson. Mr Braes told the inquest that even once Alex became gravely ill, there was no ambulance available to take him to Broken Hill Hospital, no hospitals willing to admit him in Adelaide and no pilot available to fly him to Sydney. Took time at the end of his testimony to address the Braes family directly was diagnosed with a infection... 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