Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
06:58 AEST Tue Aug 24 2010
An inquest will begin on Tuesday into the death of a four-year-old girl in a remote north-west Queensland Aboriginal community.
Naylor Walden was taken to the Doomadgee Hospital, in Queensland's Gulf country, with breathing difficulties four times in the days leading up to her death on July 23 last year.
She was sent home after seeing only nursing staff on the first three visits.
On the fourth visit, she was admitted to see Dr Zulfikar Ali Hudda, who performed an emergency tracheostomy, a surgical procedure to open a direct airway through an incision in the windpipe.
However, she died a short time later.
After her death, Naylor's family said she had not been admitted immediately to hospital because she was Aboriginal and because of swine flu concerns.
A directions hearing before Coroner Kevin Priestly in Cairns in May was told the inquest would look at the quality of care Naylor received.
This would include whether the tracheostomy should have been performed, whether Dr Hudda had the necessary experience to perform it and whether the girl should have been airlifted to Mt Isa Hospital.
The inquest will begin in Doomadgee on Tuesday before moving to Mt Isa on Wednesday.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/7949892/coroner-investigates-4yo-girls-death
An inquest will begin on Tuesday into the death of a four-year-old girl in a remote north-west Queensland Aboriginal community.
Naylor Walden was taken to the Doomadgee Hospital, in Queensland's Gulf country, with breathing difficulties four times in the days leading up to her death on July 23 last year.
She was sent home after seeing only nursing staff on the first three visits.
On the fourth visit, she was admitted to see Dr Zulfikar Ali Hudda, who performed an emergency tracheostomy, a surgical procedure to open a direct airway through an incision in the windpipe.
However, she died a short time later.
After her death, Naylor's family said she had not been admitted immediately to hospital because she was Aboriginal and because of swine flu concerns.
A directions hearing before Coroner Kevin Priestly in Cairns in May was told the inquest would look at the quality of care Naylor received.
This would include whether the tracheostomy should have been performed, whether Dr Hudda had the necessary experience to perform it and whether the girl should have been airlifted to Mt Isa Hospital.
The inquest will begin in Doomadgee on Tuesday before moving to Mt Isa on Wednesday.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/7949892/coroner-investigates-4yo-girls-death