‘Pain never ends’: family’s hopes seven years on

A woman who died in hospital after being admitted for weight-loss surgery for an extremely rare condition will never be forgotten, her family has vowed as they press for change.

Brooke Tiddy was admitted to St George Private Hospital in Sydney on 18 September 2018 for elective bariatric surgery recommended by her doctor, who deemed her “super super obese”.

However, the surgery was abandoned due to complications that arose when medical doctors attempted to apply anesthesia.

Ms Tiddy’s last words to her family before she died of a heart attack in the early hours of September 21 were “I want to go home”.

At the inquest into her death, her loving family recalled the 32-year-old as a caring, sassy and funny woman whose unexpected death shook them.

“It was extremely difficult to accept that he was gone for surgery and would not be coming home,” the family wrote in an emotional statement.

“Even though seven years have passed, the pain never ends and Brooke will never be forgotten.”

Coroner Stuart Devine found there were numerous missed opportunities in preparing Ms Tiddy for surgery, including inadequate pre-operative assessments by her surgeon and anesthetist.

Ms Tiddy was living with sponastrime dysplasia, which affects the muscles and skeletal system.

One of the concerning features is the narrowing of the airways, which ultimately appears to have contributed to Ms Tiddy’s death.

The coroner concluded that the prospective surgeon, Vytauras Kuzinkovas, who, like many experts, had not heard of the condition before, had not made sufficient attempts to understand the situation.

Mr Devine said the highly unusual situation meant that Dr Kuzinkovas should have taken reasonable steps to examine Ms Tiddy more closely before she was admitted to hospital.

The coroner found that the lack of communication between the surgeon and anesthesiologist Vincent Da Silva was another lost opportunity to investigate the situation and make an informed decision about proceeding with surgery.

It made four recommendations, including that St George Private Hospital review and potentially change its policies on admission, anesthesia and risky airway intubation.

The hospital has already begun making changes, including implementing a requirement that patients like Ms. Tiddy undergo intensive diagnostic work-up and changing its nurse-to-nurse handover policy.

Mr Devine said he was satisfied the hospital had considered the factors that contributed to Ms Tiddy’s death and made improvements to ensure what happened did not happen again.

Dr. denies contributing to Ms Tiddy’s death. Kuzinkovas told the court he acknowledged his family’s pain and made changes to his practice.

Dr Da Silva, who attended the inquest, said he also made changes after thinking about death and learning some hard lessons.

Miss Tiddy’s family wiped away tears as the findings were handed down at Lidcombe Coroner’s Court late last year.

Outside, his sister Julie Cox said they were pleased with the coroner’s findings and hoped the hospital would implement the recommendations.

“We hope this will prevent others from going through what we went through,” he said.

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