‘Input error’ after doctor’s handwritten script change may have led to patient’s death: coroner

The patient who weighed 39kg was administered a 1g paracetamol dose on 13 occasions.
Coroner Ken Archer. Photo: The Canberra Times

A coroner has blamed an “input error” involving handwritten medication charts for the death of a patient from a paracetamol overdose administered following her surgery.

Sharyn Kaine, who weighed 39kg, was originally taken by ambulance to Calvary Hospital in Canberra with a perforated bowel on 2 October 2021.