By An inquest has begun into the death of a Sri Lankan who sought help several times from Adelaide emergency departments during the COVID pandemic.
The SA Coroners Court heard Sri Lankan national Sachintha Battagodage, 23, sought help from the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) three times within five days in November 2020, telling doctors he was coughing and vomiting up blood before he died from a ruptured chest pseudoaneurysm.
He had moved to Adelaide in the same year with his wife, Yelani Perera, and had commenced work as a cleaner while she was studying as an international student.
Counsel assisting, Emma Roper, told the court on the 23-year-old’s third visit to the RAH, Ms Perera asked for her husband to be admitted before they were asked to follow up with a GP.
“She told the nurse that her husband was fearing for his life and he had lost too much blood,” Ms Roper said.
“Her pleas for medical assistance for her husband went unheeded.”
The court heard his wife then drove him to a GP and he was recommended to have an urgent scan at a radiology clinic in Glenelg.
“However, very shortly after the scan was performed, Mr Battagodage’s pseudoaneurysm ruptured – and he could not be saved,” Ms Roper said.
The court heard Mr Battagodage had taken photos and videos of the blood he was coughing and vomiting up to help inform medical professionals — including his final moments when he collapsed at the radiology clinic, with his resuscitation being captured on camera.
Providing evidence through an interpreter to the court, Ms Perera said she thought hospital staff would have taken her husband’s case more seriously because he was vomiting blood.
“It was our first time in a hospital, we were scared, we had no confidence,” Ms Perera said.
“[My husband] was going with whatever they were saying.”
