Former Socceroo Steve Herczeg died in agony when an oxygen supply was wrongly connected to his urinary catheter, bursting his bladder and collapsing his lungs, but his death could have been prevented, an inquest has heard.
Counsel assisting Naomi Kereru says questions remain about how the mix-up occurred at Adelaide's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which resulted in a "particularly traumatic end to what was meant to be an uncomplicated admission".
But she said it was open for coroner Mark Johns to find there could have been a different outcome to the tragedy of September 2016.
In final submissions on Wednesday to the inquest into the death of the 72-year-old, Ms Kereru said continuous monitoring of his vital signs, including oxygen saturations and his heart rate, "may have alerted the staff in time to have saved Mr Herczeg's life".
"Remembering he was actually in hospital for a urinary tract infection. Nothing more serious than that," she said.
Ms Kereru said it was also open to Mr Johns to find Mr Herczeg was not on oxygen when he arrived on a ward at Queen Elizabeth, even though the hospital's electronic records system, known as the Enterprise Patient Administration System, indicated he was.
She said it was inconceivable hospital staff would deliberately make incorrect notes on EPAS, though it was possible such notes were entered by accident.
But she said it was not possible to tell who wrote the incorrect note, with staff admitting they sometimes made entries under the log-ins of other people.
The possibility a staff member made the entry while another person was logged on had "thrown the cat among the pigeons", Ms Kereru said.
Evidence at the inquest also revealed staff were struggling with the EPAS technology.
The court was told it was "hard to imagine" the same issues occurring with the older system of paper-based records.
"That must be a very difficult submission for Mr Herczeg's family to hear," Ms Kereru said.
At previous hearings, medical staff denied causing the mix-up with Mr Herczeg's oxygen tube and a police investigation found he might have done it himself while in a delirious state.
Ms Kereru said there had been evidence Mr Herczeg had previously tried to remove his oxygen and catheter lines after being admitted to the Queen Elizabeth, and he was noted to be confused and at times delusional.
However, she was unsure if the coroner had enough evidence to find the former soccer star had caused his own death.
"But one of the more pressing issues is why was an elderly patient, who was known to be confused, put into a room on his own without close observation," she said.
Mr Herczeg was the first South Australian to play for Australia in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match.
Mr Johns will hand down his finding on a date to be fixed.
Share
