As the coronial enquiry into the death in custody of Miss Dhu continues in Western Australia it has been revealed that fatal errors were made at the Piabla hospital in the hours before the 22 year old Aboriginal woman passed away from a tragic combination of blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Evidence heard yesterday noted that two senior nurses had both failed to take the young woman's temperature assuming the basic task had been done by the other.
Triage nurse Alyce Hetherington told the inquest she hadn't taken Miss Dhu's temperature after she arrived at the Hedland Health Campus assuming that it would have been taken later when the patient was assessed in emergency.
Nurse Gitte Hall then said that did not do the routine test because she had presumed it had been done "at the front" by the triage nurse.
Astonishingly it has also been revealed that hospital only had two thermometers at the time and they could be "hard to get to" according to Ms Hall.
Both nurses claim they believed Miss Dhu was not seriously ill and considered her symptoms of anxiety and high pulse rate may have been caused by drug withdrawal.
The 22-year-old was taken to hospital by police complaining of pain in her ribs, chest, shoulder,
stomach and legs after being detained for a warrant relating to $3600 in unpaid fines.
Ms Hetherington also told the inquest yesterday that she gave Miss Dhu a triage score of four out of five but based on what she had learnt since the score should have been three, indicating a more serious condition.
During her time on the stand she rejected evidence admitted last week by emergency doctor Stephen Dunjey that Miss Dhu should have been given a score of two saying that she did not have shortness of breath or chest pains.
The inquest continues.