Kyle Gallagher: Tradie’s desperate text messages from hospital pleading for help hours before his death at STARS at Brisbane’s Metro North Hospital
Kyle Gallagher: Tradie’s desperate text messages from hospital pleading for help hours before his death at STARS at Brisbane’s Metro North Hospital
Grieving parents want to know what hospital care their dying son received in his desperate final hours.
Kyle Gallagher, 22, tried to contact both his mother and father and complained that he was not getting help breathing before he died in a Brisbane rehabilitation facility on July 14.
Kyle’s death, which came a month after he suffered a serious brain injury in a motorcycle accident, is now the subject of a medical investigation.
On the night of his death, the young roofer texted his father, Matty Gallagher, saying: “I need something to help me breathe.”
He sent his father another heartbreaking message that read, “They’re not giving me anything and I won’t last much longer.”
The death of Kyle Gallagher, which came a month after he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, is now the subject of an inquest
Two of the painful messages the young tradie sent his father before he died
Kyle also contacted his mother, Christina Dargusch, and her phone rang, but she couldn’t answer.
Ms. Dargusch did not learn until the next morning that her son had called, shortly after she was told he had died while in the care of the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS).
STARS is part of Brisbane’s Metro North Hospital in Herston.
“Why is he dead? Why?’ Mr. Gallagher wanted to know 7News.
Both parents want to understand exactly what examinations were carried out on their son before his death.
Kyle Gallagher, 22, tried to contact both his mother and father and complained that he was not getting help breathing before he died in a Brisbane rehabilitation facility on July 14
Kyle Gallagher was hospitalized several times after suffering a brain injury in a motorcycle accident a month before his death
They now realize that Kyle tried to contact them because “he knew he was dying.”
They had expected Kyle to make a full recovery after the accident left him with broken bones and post-traumatic amnesia.
Because of the brain injury, he couldn’t remember the accident, said his stepmother Tegan Samorowski.
“Sometimes he would move and feel pain and ask, ‘Dad, why am I in so much pain?'” Mr. Gallagher said.
At some point, Kyle discharged from the hospital.
He was still in severe pain and returned to the hospital emergency room the next day.
His family invoked “Ryan’s Rule” and wanted control over his medical decisions, but hospital officials told him he was mentally healthy and could make his own decisions as an adult.
Kyle Gallagher’s distraught father Matty Gallagher wants to know why his son died when he couldn’t breathe. Pictured: Mr. Gallagher with Kyle’s stepmother Tegan Samorowski
STARS told 7News in a statement that its employees did so I support Kyle’s family but cannot comment further as a coronial inquest is ongoing.
The Queensland Health Ombudsman is also investigating.
It is expected that the Ombudsman and the Coroner will take at least three months to report their respective findings.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Queensland Health and the Health Ombudsman’s Office for comment.