Stroke inquest: hospital roster error may have contributed to deaths

The South Australian coroner is set to take further evidence from a stroke specialist after it was revealed a roster bungle – which may have contributed to the deaths of two patients – had been repeated.

State Coroner Mark Johns is holding an inquest into the deaths of stroke patients Michael John Russell, 60, and Leslie Robert Graham, 81, who died when the Royal Adelaide Hospital's only two Interventional Neuro-Radiology (INR) specialists were on leave.

Dr Rebecca Scroop and Dr James Taylor were both approved leave in April, 2017, and were unavailable to carry out the procedures.

The procedures were instead performed by the state's only other accredited INR specialist, Dr Steve Chryssidis, but were not successful.

Mr Johns will take further evidence from Dr Taylor on Monday and will then hear from Dr Scroop from Tuesday.

The inquiry was previously told it had been an error for the two specialists to be given leave at the same time, but it was revealed in June this year that the pair were again granted leave for the same period in July.

Counsel involved in the inquiry have raised concerns that measures put in place to avoid a repeat of the error didn't work or weren't followed.

Get the news delivered straight to your inbox

Receive the top stories in our weekly newsletter Sign up now