Death of Iranian refugee on Manus preventable, says coroner
A Queensland coroner has found the death of an Iranian refugee on Manus Island was "entirely preventable" and due to the "compounding effect of multiple errors".
Hamid Khazaei Photo: supplied
Hamid Kehazaei died in a Brisbane Hospital in 2014 from an infection he picked up at the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea.
Mr Kehazaei's life support was switched off in 2014 after he suffered a series of heart attacks and organ failure arising from the routine infection.
During an inquest last year, several doctors said the 24-year-old's death was entirely preventable, and he would have been alive if the Australian government had acted sooner.
They said it took more than a day after doctors on Manus Island said he needed hospital-level care for him to be transferred to Port Moresby, where he continued to languish with inadequate care.
By the time he was finally medivacced to Brisbane, he was in a critical condition.
As the coroner, Terry Ryan, read out his findings, protesters were picketing outside the court, saying the responsibility for Mr Kehazaei's death ultimately rested with the Australian government's offshore detention policy.