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A father broke down in tears as he detailed the missed opportunities in the months before his 18-year-old son died of bleeding near his brain after collapsing at a suburban boxing gym.
He was returning to boxing after taking a break from a concussion four months earlier.
Sadly, the teenager could not be saved and he died at The Alfred on 21 February 2019.
An autopsy found Diamond’s death was caused by “acute subdural hemorrhage operated on in a martial arts environment,” Coroners Court in Melbourne said on Tuesday.
“There was also evidence of an older subdural haemorrhage,” said counsel assisting Gideon Boas.
“George reportedly suffered a symptomatic head injury in October 2018 while practicing martial arts.”
Diamond was sparring when his opponent punched him in the groin and several times in the head on October 25, 2018.
His father, Vic, remembers Diamond coming back from the gym that night and not being himself.
“He told me, ‘I hurt myself boxing, they checked me in the gym, gave me Gatorade and let me go home 20 minutes later,'” he told the court.
“My question is, why didn’t they call an ambulance? There are three medical centers within a kilometer of the salon, why didn’t they take him to one of those medical centers?”
The next day, Diamond went to work, but his boss sent him home because he was vomiting, and then Vic decided to take his son to the doctor.
He told the GP he was vomiting, dizzy, had a headache and back pain and she sent him away but said to bring him back if it persisted.
Diamond’s condition didn’t improve, so they went back to another doctor and were again told to give him a few days before bringing him back, Vick said.
No MRIs or CT scans were ordered, but the teenager was sent for blood tests.
His symptoms persisted, prompting the father and son to visit Frankston Hospital on November 5, where he was diagnosed with concussion.
Vic asked the clinician to order an MRI or CT scan for his son, but ER doctor Yigal Ruben said he didn’t need a scan.
“I asked Dr. Reuben twice to do a CT scan, he said I was overprotective and it was unnecessary,” he said.
The doctor said the radiation from the scan would not be good for the 18-year-old girl, Vick said.
Dr. Reuben gave the young man advice on his head injury and his return to boxing, including written information on concussion.
Vic cries from the witness stand as he recalls a heartbreaking conversation with his son on the way home from hospital.
“I said to him, ‘Georgie, maybe you should give up boxing for a while,'” he said.
“He said to me, ‘Dad, the owners of the gym said I was fine, they let me drive home, two GPs said I was fine, one doctor at the hospital told me I didn’t even have to do a scan, we had to trust what they say because they are professionals.”
– Sorry about that.
Diamond was cleared by a GP and cleared to return to boxing in January 2019.
The inquest before State Coroner John Kane continues.
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