It has been found that Dr George Kerry did not provide adequate care to his patient Lauren Michelle Edgar who died five days after complications resulting from her liposuction procedure. At the inquest into the death of the 28-year-old, the Deputy State Coroner Anthony Schapel said Ms Edgar’s care after the $7000 surgery was not adequate.
The coroner said the pain and discomfort the patient felt following the surgery at Dr George Kerry’s North Adelaide clinic in March, 2008, should have been more appropriately addressed. The inquest, the coroner said: “The notations that Dr Kerry made in the clinical notes to the effect that he offered to see Ms Edgar that afternoon were belatedly made at a time after Ms Edgar’s hospitalisation and serious illness was known to Dr Kerry.
“I find that even if Dr Kerry had made any such suggestions to Ms Edgar, the level of concern about Ms Edgar should have been sufficient to have warranted insistence on his part that she be examined by him that afternoon. “I find that if Dr Kerry had examined Ms Edgar on the Friday afternoon her condition at that point in time was such that Dr Kerry should have immediately referred Ms Edgar to hospital.”
It was heard that after she was discharged from Dr Kerry’s clinic she was not examined again but Dr Kerry had spoken to her over the phone and prescribed a Panadeine Forte prescription to remedy the pain. The next morning however, Ms Edgar was admitted to hospital and died as a result of contracting an infection that led to gas gangrene affecting her legs and pelvis “There can be no question but that Ms Edgar contracted the infection consequent upon the liposuction procedure,” the coroner said.