A letter written in November to health staff warned of significant clinical consequences to patients if specialist bowel unit was closed at Fremantle.

Gary Adshead Editorial.

Yesterday we brought you the story of a Perth father looking for answers after his sick son died in Fiona Stanley Hospital in March.

There is evidence Jared Olsen, aged 41, was prescribed medication at the hospital that killed him.

Today we have more ? and it points to this man’s death being a full-blown medical scandal.

First, here’s the background. Jared’s health problem was inflammatory bowel, probably caused by Crohn’s disease ? a manageable condition.

But after a stay in Fiona Stanley Hospital, Jared was discharged with a list of medications to take.

Less than a month later he was back in the hospital’s emergency department, but this time he never left and died when his immune system collapsed and his organs started shutting down.

His father, Phillip, couldn’t understand how an illness could prove so deadly so fast and wanted to know more.

He now believes that his son was prescribed a drug that blood tests would later reveal he should never have been given.

It’s well known that the drug can be life-threatening if the patient taking it doesn’t have the enzyme TPMT in their body ? and that should be determined as soon as possible.

Jared Olsen, it turned out, didn’t have TPMT and so it’s highly likely the drug attacked his body and caused his death.

His father believes there were gaping holes in the treatment of his son ? and a letter I have seen lends weight to his argument.

It’s from November last year when highly experienced inflammatory bowel disease professionals in WA wrote to Fiona Stanley Hospital bosses.

They were extremely concerned that the closure of a specialist unit at Fremantle Hospital set up to deal with the medical condition – and loss of the nurses that coordinated the service – would result in ? and I quote "significant clinical and financial consequences".

The inflammatory bowel disease unit was closing because of the shift in services to Fiona Stanley.