A Melbourne teenager’s heartbreaking last words have been revealed following his death in hospital, with his devastated family still unsure exactly what went wrong.
James Tsindos was just 17 when he was taken to hospital for anaphylaxis after he unknowingly consumed cashews — which he was allergic to — in the cheese sauce of a burrito bowl he’d ordered for lunch.
An inquest into his death found he was given adrenaline by paramedics before he was taken to Holmesglen Private Hospital in Moorabbin in May of 2021,the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The hospital is operated by Healthscope, the country’s only national private healthcare provider that operates 38 hospitals across Australia.
The operator has come under scrutiny over the last few months, namely following the death of two-year-old Joe Massa after he waited hours for a bed at Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney.
James’ father, Harry Tsindos, told 60 Minutes he went home after meeting the ambulance at Holmesglen Hospital, as there were strict COVID-19 protocols in place.
He told his son he’d “come straight back” after he finished his lunch, and James replied “Yeah dad, I’m OK”.
However the teen developed a wheeze — a sign the adrenaline was wearing off — and the inquest heard different accounts about whether the wheezing was communicated or appropriately addressed during the handover from paramedics to the hospital.
James was then triaged as a category three patient, which requires patients to be treated within 30 minutes, the inquest was told.
Mr Tsindos received a call from the hospital shortly after he left telling him “Your son is very sick”, according to 60 Minutes.
Jumping in the car, he called the hospital, only to be delivered the devastating news.
“(A doctor said) his heart has stopped,” Mr Tsindos said, choking up while recalling how he’d been told to tell his wife.
“I said, ‘Tell her what? Go in there and save my son’.”
The court heard James went into cardiac arrest and a “code blue” was called, however he suffered a brain injury, the ABC reported.
He was taken to the Alfred Hospital, however life support was turned off days later.
‘Gonna die’: Teen’s last words
Heartbreaking details emerged in the aftermath of the teen’s death, with a patient at the hospital telling 60 Minutes he’d unknowingly witnesses James’ last words.
Zoran, who was waiting for scan results, said he heard James say he couldn’t breathe “many times”.
“I heard a person and they were saying ‘I can’t breathe’ … they said it many times,” the patient, Zoran, told the program.
He said he heard the teen say “I can’t breathe, I’m gonna die”.
Within 40 seconds he heard a “sudden huge noise”, which he believed to be James either jumping off the bed or falling on the ground, before hospital staff rushed in.
“Then it was just chaotic for maybe over an hour, trying to save the person,” Zoran said.
“They were coming in my room, they were looking for things, they were running down the corridor … It was just chaotic.”
‘Burying my son and I don’t really know what happened’
Mr Tsindos said what “went wrong” the day of his son’s death was taking him to Homesglen Hospital.
“I’m burying my son, and I don’t really know what happened,” he said.
“I’ve got a kid that walks into an ambulance, says to me, ‘Dad, I’m fine’, and I’m burying him, and I don’t know why.”
Mr Tsindos said he wasn’t sure if he would’ve been able to change the outcome had he been there, but that he “wouldn’t have ignored” his son.
“They need to own it. They need to come clean on it, for James’ sake, for my family’s sake, for the community’s sake, and for their own sake,” Mr Tsindos said.
James’ mother, Venetia, said her son would tell her to “keep going” if he were here today.
“I am in a position where I need to speak for James, because he can’t speak for himself, because they buried him in the ground,” Ms Tsindos told the program, choking up.
“James is in the ground as we speak. He’s not here. That is not right.”
A Healthscope spokesperson said the operator’s emergency departments “meet or exceed the national average for quality and safety performance … on a range of key clinical measures” in a statement to 60 Minutes.
“We care for nearly 150,000 patients in our emergency departments each year, with the vast majority receiving timely and compassionate care,” the statement read.
“Regrettably, we acknowledge that there can be times, though they are rare, when our patient care and outcomes do not meet the standards we set for ourselves or the standard expected by the public.”
The statement acknowledged there were “unacceptable failings in the treatment” of Joe Massa, and that the Healthscope “expressed our deepest sympathies” to James’ family.
“The coronial inquest into the tragic death of James Tsindos in May 2021 is yet to report its findings,” the statement read.
“Healthscope is fully co-operating with the inquest and is committed to implementing any recommendations made by the Coroner when the finding is handed down.”
Operator under scrutiny over 2yo’s death
Healthscope came under earlier scrutiny following the death of two-year-old Joe Massa, who died after he received care at Northern Beaches Hospital.
Joe was taken to the hospital, operated by Healthscope, last September after he vomited overnight.
However, he waited more than two hours for a bed despite a high heart rate and severe loss of fluid, according to the ABC.
The hospital refused the requests of his parents, Elouise and Danny, that their son be given intravenous fluid, according to the broadcaster.
Joe was transferred to Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick after he suffered a cardiac arrest.
He then died as a result of brain damage.
The hospital’s operator, Healthscope, accepted there was an “underappreciation of the severity of Joe’s illness and a delay in recognising deterioration” in a statement earlier sent to NewsWire.
Mr Massa told Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes he didn’t believe Healthscope were equipped to run emergency departments in Australia.
“Not by any stretch of the imagination,” Mr Massa told the program.
“When we aren’t in an isolated case through the care of Healthscope emergency department, it is just … it makes my blood boil.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns and Health Minister Ryan Park met with Joe’s parents, Elouise and Danny, back in February, where Mr Minns committed to an overhaul of reviews of patient care for those concerned about their treatment in NSW hospitals.
Mr Minns last month announced a ban on all future public-private partnerships at acute hospitals, and also prevented future governments from entering into partnerships that could limit control over hospital services.
https://thewest.com.au/lifestyle/gonna-die-teens-last-words-revealed-as-his-parents-push-private-hospital-operator-healthscope-for-answers-following-his-death-c-18361055
