Inquest into the Death of Brian Vincent ATTWELL

Inquest into the Death of Brian Vincent ATTWELL

Delivered on :3 June 2020

Delivered at : Perth

Finding of : Coroner Linton

Recommendations : N/A

Orders/Rules : N/A

Suppression Order : N/A

Summary : At the time of his death Mr Attwell was a sentenced prisoner. He was initially held in Albany Prison to be close to his family. Mr Attwell was a frail, elderly man in poor health with chronic and progressive health issues and poor mobility when he was received into prison.

On 25 February 2014 Mr Attwell was noted to have significantly deteriorated in his health and a physiotherapist reported he had poor dynamic balance and had developed a fear of falling. As his health needs could no longer be appropriately managed in the general unit at Albany Prison it was decided to transfer Mr Attwell to Casuarina Prison. On 18 March 2014 he was transferred Casuarina Prison where he could receive more supervised care in the infirmary.

Mr Attwell’s health conditions were regularly monitored and he was provided with assistance with most of his activities of daily living. Over time his condition deteriorated, with worsening anaemia, renal failure and heart failure. He had a number of hospital admissions before his final admission to Fiona Stanley Hospital on 4 July 2017. On this admission it was apparent to the medical team that Mr Attwell had reached the end of his life and after discussions with his family, a decision was made to withdraw any life saving measures and to commence to treat him palliatively until his death on 13 July 2017.

The Coroner was satisfied Mr Attwell received a high standard of medical care while incarcerated and found he died from natural causes.

Catch Words : Death in Custody : Co-morbidities : Natural Causes

Last updated: 20-Jul-2020

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