The Health News – 27 October 2016
Overview:
• A coronial inquest is being held into the death of former Socceroo Stephen Herczeg, 72, who died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on September 19. Earlier this week, the inquest heard Mr Herczeg died after the pressure of the oxygen caused his bladder to burst and his lungs to collapse.
• Dr Brian Crickitt is standing trial for the murder of his wife Christine over New Years Eve 2009, and is accused of deliberately injecting her with a fatal dose of insulin at their Woodbine home, in Sydney’s south-west.
• The sale of apricot kernels as food was banned in December by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), killing the $600,000 a year industry. Since the ban, inspectors from the New South Wales Food Safety Authority have been keeping an eye out for illegal sales.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 27th of October 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News
South Australia’s Premier Jay Weatherill has raised the possibility that a man whose oxygen supply was somehow connected to his catheter could have caused his own death.
A coronial inquest is being held into the death of former Socceroo Stephen Herczeg, 72, who died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) on September 19.
Earlier this week, the inquest heard Mr Herczeg died after the pressure of the oxygen caused his bladder to burst and his lungs to collapse.
When questioned about the inquest on Wednesday, Mr Weatherill said the public should wait until the findings were handed down before jumping to conclusions.
However, he also pointed to a police report which he said “is speculating that the death was caused by the actions of the patient”.
“Now we don’t know the truth or otherwise of that, but that’s certainly what emerged after the police investigation,” Mr Weatherill said.
“I think it’s shameful that there has been other speculation, pointing the finger at nurses.”
The inquest has heard from three nurses who cared for Mr Herczeg in the emergency room, where he had been taken by ambulance after a fall.
Registered nurse Stacy Woodward said Mr Herczeg’s catheter and oxygen supply were correctly connected and working well when she cared for him while he was in the emergency room.
The inquest, before state coroner Mark Johns, is expected to run until Monday.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-26/sydney-gp-on-trial-over-insulin-ovedose-murder-of-wife/7965630
A Sydney GP accused of murdering his wife researched insulin overdoses online the day before he allegedly killed her, the Supreme Court has heard.
Dr Brian Crickitt is standing trial for the murder of his wife Christine over New Years Eve 2009, and is accused of deliberately injecting her with a fatal dose of insulin at their Woodbine home, in Sydney’s south-west.
Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC told the court that Crickitt and his wife of 19 years were in a “toxic” relationship, and Crickitt was having an affair with another woman.
Mr Tedeschi told the opening of the judge-only trial the 63-year-old …wrote a prescription for fast-acting insulin under another patient’s name and filled it himself at a Campbelltown pharmacy on December 31, 2009.
It is claimed he forcibly injected the medication and killed Christine Crickitt that night.
An autopsy on Mrs Crickitt’s body on January 2, 2010 found no clear cause of death.
Defence barrister Tim Gartelmann SC disputes that insulin was a cause or even a factor in Mrs Crickitts’ death.
A Hunter Valley online organic shop has become the second New South Wales business to be fined hundreds of dollars for selling a food once touted as a cyanide-based cancer treatment.
The sale of apricot kernels as food was banned in December by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), killing the $600,000 a year industry.
Before the ban, FSANZ said about 20,000 kilograms of apricot kernels were sold for human consumption in Australia each year.
Since the ban, inspectors from the New South Wales Food Safety Authority have been keeping an eye out for illegal sales. …