Alfred ‘Gerry’ Williams: Grieving family’s plea for inquest after losing dad who waited for stroke treatment

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Alfred ‘Gerry’ Williams: Grieving family’s plea for inquest after losing dad who waited for stroke treatment

What was meant to be a routine ankle fusion operation has left a family shattered and desperate for answers, fearing that — without them — other patients remain at risk.

Alfred ‘Gerry’ Williams’ grieving wife and daughters are pleading for an inquest into his death, over claims staff at St John of God Murdoch failed to recognise his symptoms after surgery.

The 70-year-old grandfather with a “big personality and big heart” had suffered a stroke, but he didn’t receive emergency treatment for about seven hours.

“If they had picked up that stroke early he could still be with us,” his wife Lee said through tears on Saturday. “He was taken (from us) because they didn’t do their job and I don’t want them doing it to anyone else.”

Mr Williams was conscious and cracking jokes at noon on October 30 last year, but two hours later his family knew something was wrong.

“It wasn’t minor symptoms. He went from joking and talking normally to talking like a baby,” his daughter Kelly Williams said. “My dad was a proud man and he spoke very clearly and slowly . . . he was in a hospital being cared for and monitored and they didn’t pick it up.”

A rapid-response team checked him, but told the family his slurred speech and partial paralysis was likely the result of anesthesia.

Camera IconAlfred Williams died in St John of God Murdoch a year ago. Credit: Supplied/The West ***********

The family claims repeated requests for more checks were ignored and that nurses left the room for 30 minutes as Mr Williams condition deteriorated.

“I walked out the passage and there was no one, not a soul anywhere. We rang the bell and no one came,” Lee said.

At 6pm a doctor came to check and uttered the words that broke her heart.

“He said ‘Gerry’s had a stroke’ and I just lost it,” she said.

Another two hours passed before he was transferred to WA’s stroke unit at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, despite desperate pleas from Kelly , a TV journalist.

“They would not take action, they wanted to take him for a scan first,” she said. “They were really condescending.”

She survived a stroke in 2016 and knew every minute was critical, ringing her GP who told her to call 000.

“I begged (them), it was the worst moment of my life and I begged them to pick my dad up and take him (from St John of God Murdoch) to Charlies and they didn’t,” she said.

“He said ‘I’m sorry I can’t help you . . . because he’s in a hospital already’. But they’re not doing anything, you have to do something!

“It was two hours and 20 minutes for him to be loaded into the ambulance since (they) said he’d had a stroke. Two hours and 20 minutes, and I just don’t understand how they can justify that that is a reasonable time frame.”

Mr Williams was rushed into surgery at SCGH but died two days later.

St John of God Health Care said two investigations found there was no “unreasonable” conduct.

“St John of God Health Care expresses our condolences to the Williams family for their loss,” chief executive Bryan Pyne said.

“The internal clinical investigation panel, which included an external consultant neurologist, concluded that there were no preventable healthcare factors that contributed to Mr Williams’ passing.

“The investigation also found that there was no unreasonable conduct from any of the healthcare providers involved. The external investigation report is consistent with these findings.

“We treat matters such as this with the utmost seriousness and act to ensure the safety of our patients at all times.”

The Williams family is determined to ensure lessons are learnt and have vowed to fight for a new independent investigation, with Hammond Legal writing to the coroner on their behalf.

Camera IconMr Williams’ family believe his death was preventable. Credit: Supplied/The West ***********

“It is submitted that had SJOG listened (and) promptly examined Alfred — and acted upon such examination — Alfred would have likely survived,” lawyer John Hammond said.

Kelly added: “We don’t blame any one person. We just feel like the system is wrong and the system protects the system. I feel like because it’s a private hospital no one cares. It’s in the too-hard basket. I’ve tried.”

After 49 years of marriage, the circumstances have made Lee’s heartache even harder to bear.

She recently sold the caravan they were planning to take around Australia.

“You don’t get any answers from anybody, nobody wants to tell you anything, it’s just a nightmare. It’s like hitting your head against a brick wall,” she said.

“We want them to answer for what they’ve done so they make their systems better . . . because this could happen tomorrow, this could happen tonight to someone else.”

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