KEY POINTS:
Police are investigating after a man discharged from Nelson Hospital's emergency department following a car crash died at home as a result of his injuries.
Lionel Jenkins Holman, 70, was found dead at his Stoke home on Wednesday morning and a post-mortem found he died on Tuesday night from bronchial complications arising from injuries he suffered in a crash on Monday, the Nelson Mail reported.
Mr Holman was a passenger in a car which collided with another at an intersection. He was taken by ambulance to Nelson Hospital with chest injuries and was discharged the same day.
Detective Sergeant Kevin Tiernan of Nelson CIB said Mr Holman also saw a GP for a check-up on Tuesd ay.
He said police would investigate what treatment and advice Mr Holman was given at the hospital and from the GP and whether the possibility of complications should have been picked up.
Mr Holman lived at a community house with other people and had been in care for a number of years.
His sister Anne Gutsell was distressed at the condition she found her brother in on Tuesday, but trusted hospital staff had done their job adequately before discharging him.
She also believed his caregivers would be monitoring his condition.
Mrs Gutsell said the caregivers were now telling her Mr Holman had been sick before the crash, but she believed it was the accident that caused his death.
Mr Tiernan said the investigation was in its early stages and it was too early to say whether any charges would be laid.
A Nelson Marlborough District Health Board spokesman said the DHB was unable to comment.
- NZPA
