00:01I'm standing in front of the Lightning Ridge Courthouse where just yesterday Deputy State
00:06Coroner Harriet Graham handed down her findings into the inquest into 42-year-old Warramai
00:12woman Eve Brown's death. Now she ruled that her death could have been preventable when
00:17she turned up to Lightning Ridge Hospital on July 1st, 2021. She was presenting with
00:23severe abdominal pain and also vomiting. Now an initial diagnosis by doctors found that
00:29she may have had a UTI. However, what we do know now from an autopsy is that she was likely
00:35suffering from sepsis caused by a ruptured spleen and also a kidney infection and within
00:4024 hours of her arriving at Lightning Ridge Hospital, she went into cardiac arrest whilst
00:46waiting to be airlifted to Dubbo Base Hospital and she was declared dead. Now the family
00:51has been fighting for close to five years saying that one, they need a CT scanner here
00:56and two, a decision should have been made earlier to get Eve Brown transferred to Dubbo Base
01:02Hospital. Now Deputy State Coroner Harriet Graham agreed with this, essentially saying that
01:08Eve Brown's death was preventable and that more should have been done to escalate her care
01:13when they realised that she was presenting with the symptoms that she did. Now the coroner went
01:19on to give several recommendations to Western NSW Local Health District saying that they should
01:24use Eve's story as a way to train future staff and to also influence their escalation of care
01:31procedures. Now the family are going to continue to fight for a CT scanner here. They say that in
01:36Lightning Ridge, which is one of the most isolated hospitals in all of NSW, but the family realises
01:42that but says they shouldn't have to settle for poorer health outcomes just because that they live in
01:48outback NSW. Now the family of Eve Brown were filled in this courtroom so much so that they were sitting
01:55with crossed legs waiting for the findings to be handed down. They were also surrounded by paintings
02:00that Eve Brown was becoming quite locally known for. So whilst it was a very sad day for the family,
02:07they say if there's one good thing that can come out of this is that they can get better health
02:10outcomes
02:11for their town of Lightning Ridge.
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