A young Australian woman who died hours after undergoing weight loss surgery told her father five haunting words before her death, an inquest has heard. Brooke Tiddy, 32, passed away two days after the procedure at St George Private Hospital in Sydney on September 19, 2018.
The inquest at the Coroner's Court of New South Wales heard that Ms Tiddy had been recommended bariatric surgery by her doctor after being described as 'super super obese'. Her family remembered her as an 'energetic and enthusiastic soul' who was 'deeply motivated to improve her health' and 'nervous but excited' about the surgery.
An autopsy revealed that Ms Tiddy suffered from an 'extremely rare' skeletal condition called sponastrime dysplasia, which her surgeon, Dr Vytauras Kuzinkovas, had not encountered before. The condition caused a narrowing of her airways, which were found to have narrowed to the diameter of a drinking straw, and this was determined to be the cause of death.
Dr Kuzinkovas admitted that he did not research the condition until after Ms Tiddy's death and claimed she had downplayed her asthma and failed to disclose croup or narrow airways during an initial consultation. He acknowledged that an in-depth assessment of her medical history would likely have revealed the risk factors but said he did not think it was needed at the time.
Intensive care staff were not informed about Ms Tiddy's condition or its significance, the inquest heard. ICU doctor Michael O'Leary described the experience as the worst of his career and said he felt 'very alone' that night. He stated that had he been aware of the link between her condition and narrowed airways, he would have called in a specialist.
Ms Tiddy's family expressed hope that the inquest would lead to measures to prevent such tragedies in the future, saying their trust in the health system had been 'shattered'. 'This oversight cost Brooke her life,' they said in a statement.
