Doctor Was 'Too Tired' To Treat Teenager At Hospital...So, She Died

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Doctor 'Too Tired' To Treat Girl

Australia - A doctor has told a Sydney court he may have been "too tired" to make appropriate decisions regarding a teenage patient, who died in hospital after being struck by a golf ball.

Sixteen-year-old Vanessa Anderson was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital on November 6, 2005 after a golf ball fractured her skull.

An inquest at Glebe Coroners Court has heard that Vanessa was not given any anti-convulsant medication before she suffered a seizure and died two days later.

Dr Azizi Bakar, the neurosurgical registrar who admitted Vanessa to the hospital, gave evidence to the inquest today via video link from Malaysia.

The court has been told that the consultant neurosurgeon, Dr Nicolas Little, had prescribed the anti-convulsant Dilantin for Vanessa on November 7, but her mother had subsequently raised concerns with a junior doctor, Nicole Williams, that she might be allergic to the drug.

Dr Williams had asked him that evening whether the drug should be administered, Dr Bakar said.

He told the court he did not answer her, although he knew Vanessa would not be given the medication as a result.

"I might have been too tired to think of what to do," he told the inquest.

'Too tired to think"

Dr Bakar said he had spent nine hours in the operating theatre that day and had worked long hours for the previous five days.

Two other registrars were absent at the time, leaving Dr Bakar as the only neurosurgical registrar on Vanessa's ward.

Dr Bakar told the court he had not considered contacting Dr Little for his advice or giving Vanessa a different anti-convulsant drug, which might not have triggered an adverse reaction.

"I might be too tired to think of that problem," he said.

The inquest continues before Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich.