Stewart Kelly: Man STARVES to death in Australia’s Robina Hospital: ‘He was left to die’
The mother of an autistic man who starved to death in hospital fears 'he has been left to fend for himself because of his disability'.
Stewart Kelly died in August 2022 at Robina Hospital, on the Gold Coast, after suffering from starvation and dehydration.
The 45-year-old had spent 33 days in hospital – 20 of them in intensive care – where he refused to eat and required treatment for his mental health.
“He was allowed to reach that critical condition within the hospital system. How can that be?' His mother Ann Jeffry, 81, said A current issue.
'How can someone starve in a hospital?
'I feel like he was robbed of another 40 years of his life. I felt that the joy had disappeared from my life. I felt like he was left to fend for himself, possibly because of his disability.”
Stewart Kelly (pictured) died of starvation in hospital
More than a year after her son's death, Mrs. Jeffry demands to know what the hospital is doing now to prevent other patients from suffering the same fate.
'I want to know what has been implemented now fifteen months later, after I buried my son. What have they done in practice?'
A spokesperson for Gold Coast Health said we “recognize that there were significant failings in the care we provided to Mr Kelly and that his death was preventable.”
“There have been open discussions with his family, and we have apologized unconditionally for his death.”
“The causes of our failures were complex, and we are committed to implementing all recommendations from the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report and learning the lessons needed to better support patients with neurodiversity and disabilities. '
Ny Breaking Australia has contacted the Queensland Department of Health for comment.
Ms Jeffry (pictured) has asked to know what the hospital is doing to prevent the situation from ever happening again
Robina Hospital (pictured) said there were a number of shortcomings in the care it provided to Mr Kelly
Mr Kelly (pictured) spent 20 days in intensive care and never received treatment for his mental health
His death is being investigated by the Queensland Office of Health Ombudsman, the body that investigates health care complaints.
Mr Kelly's death is among many patient deaths that have occurred recently that could have been prevented at Robina Hospital.
Former police officer Kevin Farr was killed in the dementia unit in October after the 68-year-old man was attacked by another patient.
An 86-year-old elderly patient reportedly suffering from delirium died in November after jumping from a balcony.