Two died after seeking help at SA hospitals in pandemic

An inquest has begun into the death of two men who repeatedly sought help at emergency departments in Adelaide during the Covid pandemic.

Transcript

00:00 Well Gemma, the Coroner's Court heard yesterday that Sri Lankan national Sachintha Bhattagotike

00:07 seeked help here at the Royal Adelaide Hospital three times within five days in November 2020.

00:14 He told doctors that he had been coughing and vomiting up blood and that he had taken

00:19 photos of that blood to help inform staff here at the hospital.

00:24 Medical assisting told the court the 23-year-old was told to follow up with a GP on the third

00:30 visit to hospital and that his wife's pleas for help went unanswered.

00:37 His wife, Yolani Pereira, she drove to a GP clinic and that's when they were told to urgently

00:44 go to a radiology clinic for a scan.

00:48 Shortly after that scan, Mr Bhattagotike died from a ruptured pseudoaneurysm.

00:57 And paramedics will face the inquiry regarding another case.

01:01 Yeah Gemma, that case is the death of 38-year-old Himanj Charter who died at home with pneumonia.

01:10 That was after seeking help from both the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Lyall McEwen

01:14 Hospital three times within a week.

01:18 The court heard that Mr Charter was taken to the emergency department by paramedics

01:23 from his GP clinic.

01:26 On the second time an ambulance was called, those same paramedics was attended and allegedly

01:33 said, "You again."

01:36 Council assisting told the court that the ambulance officers accused Mr Charter of creating

01:41 drama and quote, "being naughty."

01:44 A neighbour who witnessed the retrieval heard one of the paramedics say that Mr Charter

01:51 should man up.

01:53 Mr Charter had prevented his wife from calling an ambulance in the hours before his death

01:59 due to their previous experiences.

02:02 Those paramedics are going to be facing the inquiry a little later this month.

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