Inquest into the death of Margaret Mariani revealed that her death was preventable. The hugely popular and respected 88-year-old died at Manning Base Hospital in Taree on July 14, 2019. Deputy State Coroner Joan Baptie found that Mrs. Mariani was treated “grossly inadequate” at Forster Private Hospital. This shoddy treatment led to subsequent complications after her gall bladder removal surgery.
Margaret Mariani had gall bladder surgery at Forster Private Hospital, but her health started to deteriorate soon after the surgery. On July 13, she was showing some alarming symptoms that the nursing staff failed to respond to, putting her in grave risk. Had the doctors been more proactive in addressing her serious, unexplained symptoms, she would have been able to rejoin the operating theatre. This could have treated the inflammation of her peritoneum, which ended leading to her death.
Coroner’s Findings on Medical Oversight
Mrs. Mariani’s case was especially tragic and instructive, as the coroner’s report found very major failures seven to eight months of care. The evidence indicated that the registered nurse in charge of her care failed to accurately document that she was in pain. Consequently, the attending physicians were unaware of her medical history. These oversights meant that, at the very least, intervention that could have saved her life in time was ignored.
Deputy State Coroner Joan Baptie didn’t mince words about the seriousness of these failures in her report. She said, “Mrs. Mariani’s death was preventable,” highlighting the pervasive failures that happened at every step of the medical care journey.
Coroner Baptie intends to submit her findings to the NSW Ministry of Health and Minister for Health Ryan Park. She hopes to incite policy changes that will ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.
Family’s Response and Emotional Toll
The emotional impact of Margaret Mariani’s death has been devastating on her family. Her son Michael Easson AM carries this burden particularly acutely. He expressed gratitude to the coroner for her thorough investigation, stating, “We wanted to yield the truth about what happened and to learn lessons about what went wrong so that Mum’s community in Forster will not have this happen again.”
Easson said his family is just emotionally drained. They have endured six difficult years reconciling their loss and seeking justice for their mother. ON THE IMPACT OF CREATIVE | AGENDA Like any artist, his sister, Karyn Hemming agrees. She’s awakened in the depth of night still searching through reminiscences of their mother death.
“I hope that this process will help other families ensure that they do not have to go through the heartbreak that we endured,” – Karyn Hemming
Support from Health Officials
Minister for Health Ryan Park expressed his condolences to Margaret Mariani’s family after the coroner’s report. It was an acknowledgment of the tragedy of her death. He said he hoped the inquiry would encourage hospitals to minimize providers’ conflicts of interest.
“Our sympathies go to the family of Margaret Mariani,” – Minister Ryan Park
The inquest has shone a light on important questions about the standards of patient care and the need for better communication in healthcare environments. Our greatest hope is that, by shining a light on these shortcomings, no other families will suffer the same preventable loss.
