1/9/08
A Defective and haphazard patient travel scheme was partly to blame for the tragic death of a near-blind elderly Aboriginal man at a remote Northern Territory airstrip, a coroner has found. Julama Limbunya died alone, thirsty and confused in 2006 after receiving treatment at Katherine Hospital for pneumonia. Despite struggling to walk unaided and speaking only a little English, the 78-year-old was returned to Kalkaringi, about 600km south of Darwin, with no escort on a chartered flight. There was no one to meet him when he arrived on August 21 and a week later, after police abandoned their search, his body was found in bushland 400m from the airstrip.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24275631-5013172,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, health, Human Rights