Rosemarie Campbell's family calls for accountability after coroner finds death was preventable

The family of a Gold Coast woman who died following complications from a surgery performed by doctor Reza Adib have called for accountability and meaningful change in the wake of damning inquest findings.

The findings from an inquest into the death of Rosemarie Campbell were released on Wednesday.

The 62-year-old died at her Gold Coast home, three days after her second gastric bypass surgery in February 2022.

In a statement, her family said she should still be alive today, but she was let down.

"That is the hardest thing for us to carry: Mum's death was preventable," the family said. 

"She was sent home to us still vomiting and in pain, a long way from The Wesley Hospital to where she lived on the Gold Coast, but she died the very next morning.

Dr Adib has been the partner of former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

In her findings, Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher was scathing in her assessment of Dr Adib's credibility and flagged major concerns with his conduct before Ms Campbell's surgery.

This included Dr Adib's concession that he made false statements in a letter to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to allow Ms Campbell to access her superannuation to fund the surgery.

The letter stated the reason for his patient's surgery was for "life-threatening obesity", but during the inquest, Dr Adib conceded this was not true.

"There is very little within the one-page letter that was in fact true," the coroner wrote.

 "I would accept that Dr Adib knew the falsity of it when he signed it."

The coroner found the surgeon did this to ensure Ms Campbell's application was successful, describing this as an "egregious breach of his responsibilities as a medical practitioner to have signed such a letter."

ATO aware of findings

In a statement to the ABC, the ATO confirmed it was aware of the coroner's findings.

"The ATO's ongoing regulatory and compliance work makes it clear that there are consequences for behaviours that are being observed across the system," a spokesperson said.

The ATO said it was undertaking various compliance activities to address concerns with registered agents, health practitioners and individuals and "the outcomes of these activities may include imposing penalties for making false or misleading statements to the ATO."

The Deputy State Coroner also raised concerns that Dr Adib attempted to mislead her by "inventing" recounts and engaging in "blatant" hyperbolic conduct when giving evidence about Ms Campbell's pre-operative care.

The coroner also noted the surgeon's "appalling" record-keeping.

"He engaged in deliberate and substantial exaggeration about the quality and intensity of the pre-operative care Ms Campbell was provided by him, when the only reason he could have done so was to mislead the investigating Coroner," the coroner wrote.

"Together with his letter intended for the ATO, it reflects a disturbing tendency to exaggerating matters pertaining to his surgical service, tending to further raise concern about what advice he gave Ms Campbell."

'I think I made a mistake'

In her findings, Ms Gallagher stated Ms Campbell should not have been discharged from The Wesley Hospital after her surgery, when her condition began to worsen.

The court was told Ms Campbell had vomited multiple times.

"In her final hours, at home and in pain, Mum turned to her husband, Shane, and said, 'I think I made a mistake about the surgery,'" Ms Campbell's family said in a statement.

"She asked him to fetch her a glass of water. When he returned only moments later, she was unresponsive, and she could not be revived."

Dr Adib was told of Ms Campbell's vomiting, but did not ask further questions.

He was not made aware by two nurses that her other vitals had deteriorated.

"It ought to have been appreciated that Ms Campbell was sufficiently unwell that she ought not to be discharged from hospital," the coroner's report said.

"Had Dr Adib been alerted to the issues of concern and attended upon Ms Campbell, it would seem that he would not, acting appropriately, have agreed to Ms Campbell's discharge and indeed, she would have been assessed and investigated for the cause of her complaints."

The coroner found had Ms Campbell not been discharged, she "would have survived".

Ms Gallagher concluded Ms Campbell's death was the result of acute bacterial peritonitis and pneumonia and recent gastric bypass surgery.

Lack of accountability 

Ms Campbell's family said they felt as though there had been a lack of accountability and "that no-one entrusted with Mum's care has truly accepted their part in what happened to her."

"Nothing can undo the loss of a mother, grandmother, partner, sister and friend who was loved beyond words," the family said. 

"Nothing can return the years that have been taken from us.

Since the inquest, The Wesley Hospital has implemented improvements to discharge criteria, vital signs procedure and nurse training on recovery from bariatric surgery.

"Our hope now is that real accountability follows these findings, and that meaningful change is made, so that other patients are better protected and no other family must endure what we have lived with every day since February 2022," Ms Campbell's family said.

The Wesley Hospital did not respond to questions from the ABC about what changes it had made since Ms Campbell's death, and whether it had conducted its own investigation.

Dr Adib has also been contacted for comment. 

The coroner made no formal recommendations.