A Victorian coroner will refer two Melbourne doctors to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency after finding their actions, and those of a string of companies, contributed to the death of a mother who suffered an allergic reaction during a heart scan organised by her employer.
But the mother of two, who had no history of heart problems, had an anaphylactic reaction to contrast dye injected as part of the CT scan under the watch of Dr Gavin Tseng, and died in hospital eight days later.On Monday, coroner Simon McGregor called for EpiPens to be made available at testing sites and for a nationwide audit of all radiology clinics after finding there was currently a widespread acceptance of incomplete radiology referrals.
of contrast dye as part of the CT scan at Future Medical Imaging Group at Moonee Ponds after labour hire firm Programmed sought a corporate deal for heart scans for its executives.Programmed used booking service Priority Care Health Solution to co-ordinate the program in early June 2018 after it learnt of and began referring staff to a combination heart and coronary test.
Soon after the dye was administered, Ms Hickey complained of dizziness and shortness of breath before losing consciousness. “The conduct of Programmed, Priority, MRI Now and Drs Saad and Tseng causely contributed to Peta’s death. The conduct of Dr Saad and Dr Tseng departed from normal professional practices. The conduct of Priority appears to have been, as a matter of fact rather than any legal term of art, misleading and deceptive.”
Mr McGregor said not only did Dr Tseng continue with Ms Hickey’s scan despite her invalid referral, he then undertook a CT scan in similar circumstances only days after Ms Hickey’s severe contrast reaction.