The Coroners Court of Victoria has recommended the installation of defibrillators on V/Line trains after an inquest into the death of a man at Dandenong railway station.
Coroner John Olle published on Wednesday 12 July the findings into the death of Carl Anthony Van Der Kaay, a Pakenham man who died at the age of 50 on 18 July 2019.
Mr Van Der Kaay suffered a cardiac arrest on his early commute to work on a V/Line train as it was stopping at Dandenong Station.
Those aboard the train administered resuscitation efforts and contacted emergency services.
Off-duty clinical nurse who at the scene, Glenn Porter, led the resuscitation efforts and requested a defibrillator from the train service operators, but was told there was none on board nor at the station.
A defibrillator was not available until emergency services arrived which was after 30 minutes of resuscitation efforts from those present.
Paramedics took over resuscitation and administered a defibrillator but Mr Van Der Kaay’s condition was not assisted and he was declared dead.
The Coroner’s investigation confirmed that Mr Van Der Kaay died of natural causes, but recommended that defibrillators be installed on V/Line trains in response to his sudden death.
The Coroner investigated if “prevention opportunities were available”.
“In particular, I sought advice on any data arising from medical episodes encountered on trains and at train stations, and whether the use of a defibrillator was recorded,” the Coroner’s report said.
The Coroner’s Prevention Unit collated 49 deaths which occurred due to a medical episode either on trains or in or around train stations between 1 January 2010 and 31 May 2021.
It was found that only 5 of the 49 deaths had confirmed use of a defibrillator, but the Coroner noted that only 4 of the 49 cases had any circumstances reported by the Court so the exact findings of how accessible a defibrillator was, were inconclusive.
Nonetheless, the Coroner invited V/Line to respond on the proposed recommendation.
In May 2021, the CEO of V/Line, Mr Matt Carrick, CEO, responded to the Coroner via a letter, saying that V/Line reviewed the feasibility of installing defibrillators on their trains.
The finding supposedly supported the effort as plausible, however the CEO identified three issues preventing the implementation; funding, the current configuration of carriages and possible impact on timetabled services.
The Coroner recommended “that V/Line install defibrillators on their trains.”
As mandated under the Coroners Act 2008, V/Line has three months from the publishing of the Coroner’s report to produce a statement of action to the Coroner.
