Inquest into the death of Heather Winchester (Link to Coroners Court NSW).
Following a hearing in May 2023, the Coroner published findings in this matter on 28 February 2025.
As to the manner of death, Mrs Winchester died after an elective hysterectomy. When Mrs Winchester entered surgery, the anaesthetic and surgical teams had differing understandings of whether she would accept a transfusion of packed red blood cells. Following surgery, a CT scan revealed a large pelvic hematoma with ongoing arterial haemorrhage.
Mrs Winchester underwent a second surgery to treat the pelvic haematoma on 26 September and a third surgery being a laparotomy to pack the abdomen and close on 27 September. Mrs Winchester required a transfusion in order to save her life as she had lost approximately 1,000 ml of blood. On the basis of Mrs Winchester’s expressed wishes as verbally conveyed to Dr Searle, consideration of the documents in Mrs Winchester’s file, and the taking of legal advice following the initial surgery, Mrs Winchester was not given a transfusion.
The coroner made five recommendations to the Hunter and New England Local Health District. One recommendation was that the Chief Executive at Hunter New England Local Health District takes steps to resume regular meetings
between the church’s hospital liaison committee and the directors of medical services at each hospital within the
district, with the aim to develop strategies to enhance clinicians’ understanding of what treatment would be considered reasonable and compatible with Jehovah’s Witness patients generally and what resources are available to staff in such circumstances.
The coroner made two recommendations to the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses Australasia as follows:
1 That all New South Wales congregants be advised that Worksheets 1 and 2 (published in 2006 in USA) are no longer to be relied upon, and that they should not be used at all for any purpose. This advice should be relayed through all available resources, including literature, both electronic and print, information to elders, and at places of worship.
In relation to the worksheets, the coroner had said at [176]:
In my view, the worksheets were and remain inappropriate for use in New South Wales. They had a significant capacity to confuse or mislead, and what occurred in relation to Mrs Winchester is an example of the problems that may arise from the church seeking to provide medical information to congregants in New South Wales within documents published in America.
2 That the church advise congregants in New South Wales the precise status of the development or otherwise of products from human or animal haemoglobin which could be used to treat patients in New South Wales when those patients are suffering with acute anaemia or massive blood loss. This advice should be relayed through all available resources including literature, both electronic and print, information to elders and at places of worship.
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