Patient ‘was sent to Australian morgue while STILL ALIVE’

An Australian hospital is under investigation following disturbing allegations that a patient was still alive when nurses sent him to the morgue in a body bag.

Kevin Reid, a palliative care patient, died in Rockingham General Hospital, south of Perth – but whether that was on the night of September 5 or the following day on September 6 has been called into question. Nurses allegedly decided he was dead on September 5 and placed him in the body bag.

But the following day, a doctor at the hospital discovered fresh blood on the patient’s hospital gown, two of his limbs had moved, and his eyes were open – raising concerns that the man had still been alive when put in the bag.

The doctor requested the state coroner to investigate the incident after he was allegedly asked by senior hospital staff to backdate the man’s death certificate, according to WA Business News. 

Western Australia’s Coroner’s Court confirmed an investigation was underway into the death of the man after receiving a request from a doctor at the hospital.

On the evening of September 5, nurses believed the man died and informed the family before transferring him to the morgue without issuing a death certificate. 

Nurses believed he had died but no doctor attended to certify this, which the hospital has blamed on being short-staffed and due to confusion because two patients had died within moments of each other.

The doctor attended the other patient’s ward but not Mr Reid’s and he was transferred to the mortuary.  

It wasn’t until the next day when an organ donation organisation contacted the hospital for permission to take the man’s organs, that a doctor was asked to certify his death.

In a report sent to the coroner the doctor allegedly made a gruesome discovery when he unzipped the body bag, according to a Business News. 

The doctor allegedly discovered fresh blood on the patient’s hospital gown from a wound on his arm, two of his limbs had moved from the position they were placed in and his eyes were open.

‘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 wrote in his report to the coroner, first reported by Business News. 

It’s alleged senior hospital staff at Rockingham General Hospital (pictured) asked the doctor to backdate the man’s death certificate – which he refused to do

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 September 6. 

The doctor claims he was pressured by senior hospital staff to backdate the man’s death after a funeral director questioned the discrepancy between the date on the death certificate and the one given to them by the family. 

The doctor refused to backdate the man’s time of death and instead notified his head of department. ‘I also specifically asked about open disclosure and coronial discussions to which I was told the executive team would ensure this occurred if deemed necessary,’ the doctor wrote.

WA Deputy Liberal Leader Libby Mettam described the medical blunder as ‘simply inexcusable and horrific’ and called for an investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission and a Royal Commission into the state’s health system. 

‘We are seeing a health system which lurches from crisis to crisis,’ MP Mettam said.

‘What we do need to see is a response from the McGowan government which gives some assurance that every effort is made to ensure that there is a transparent and thorough investigation into these deeply disturbing and horrific reports.

‘Our heart goes out to the family of the 55-year-old that is associated with these reports.’

A doctor at the hospital discovered fresh blood on the patient’s hospital gown, two of his limbs had moved, and his eyes were open – raising concerns that the man had still been alive when put in the bag (pictured, stock image)

South Metropolitan Health Service chief executive Paul Forden on Thursday strongly refuted that claim to reporters saying an experienced nurse had assessed Mr Reid and found no signs of life.

Mr Forden also said some five hours passed between the nurse’s assessment and the body being transferred and that the man’s family were present at his bedside for some of that after being notified and rushing to the hospital. 

He added an investigation being done by health officials was not looking into when the man died.

‘Please let me be really clear… the investigation is into the protocols following the death of a patient not into whether that patient was deceased,’ he said.