Elderly woman's death was likely unavoidable, inquest hears

An elderly woman who died after beingsent homeSaint John Regional Hospital likely wouldn't have survived even had she been admitted,a coroner's inquest was told Thursday.

Dr. Graham Bishop,a specialist called in the second night Lillian Mullinwas taken to emergency,said the 78-year-oldhad many health problems.

Because of that, it was "unlikely" she would have survived, even if doctors had admitted her on her first visit to the ER, Bishop told the inquest.

Mullindied in February 2005, the dayafter being sent home from hospital with severe diarrhea and stomach cramps.

Shirley MacAulay, who brought her mother to the hospital the first time,saidstaff in the emergency room gave her only a cursory exam before sending her home.

"They thought she had the flu," MacAulay told reporters after the hearing."No testing was done, not even an examination was done, no blood work. They didn't feel her stomach. Her stomach was quite distended."

Mullin told doctors she'd had five days of diarrhea, but ER staff sent her home.

The next day, her condition worsened. MacAulay took her back to emergency but it took six hours before the ER doctor saw her. Mullin died an hour later.

"It was too late," MacAulay said. "For him to be called into the hospital at 11:20 p.m., and she'd been at the hospital at 10after five. I mean that's six hours, and he's the specialist and the key guy they'd call in for something like this. Why did she sit there for six hours?"

This coroner's inquest is not looking at who is toblame for Mullin's death but was set up to developrecommendations for the hospital to avoid similar situations in the future.

Mike Mullinsaid the familywants something positive to come out of his mother's death. "Our family misses our mom very much. And we just want the truth to be known," he said.

The inquest will hear evidence until next Friday.