David Dowell. Picture: Facebook. Source: FacebookA friend said they were ''pretty sure'' they'd seen him eat the lizard.
A father-of-three from Queensland, Australia, passed away just 10-days after he was dared to eat a lizard at a Christmas Party last December.
Mr Dowell, who would’ve turned 35 last week, was rushed to Brisbane’s Mater Hospital in “absolute agony” on December 3 2018, two days after friends reportedly saw him eat the gecko at the Saturday night party.
“On (December 3), it was coming out both ends and he was really sick, and the moment he started throwing up and it was green, that’s when they rang the ambulance,” Mr Dowell’s sister Hannah told The Brisbane Times.
“When they got there, they (paramedics) didn’t even want to take him (to hospital). They said he just had gastro and his partner said, ‘No, you’ve got to take him; it’s not just gastro’.”
A day into his hospital stay, Mr Dowell was diagnosed with salmonella.
However things were much worse. The dad-of-three began vomiting green bile, his urine was black and his stomach was badly bloated. His lungs also started to fill with fluid and fluid leaked from his stomach.
It was then a friend told Mr Dowell's partner they were “pretty sure” they had seen him eat a gecko at the party.
“(Allira) told the doctor and the doctor said, ‘That could have been it’,” Hannah said.
“But there has been no evidence that he actually ate it because there was, ‘Oh yeah I saw him eat it’, and then, ‘No, I didn’t see him eat it’.
“It was a dare, so he might have intended to eat it and then thrown it away. At the end of the day, we don’t know whether he actually ate the gecko. David never mentioned it.”
Hannah told the paper her brother was in “absolute agony”.
David Dowell. Picture: Facebook. Source: FacebookAnswers.
Sadly on December 11, Mr Dowell died in surgery. His family said he “basically rotted from the inside out”.
Now the family is questioning the steps taken by the Mater Hospital in the early days of Mr Dowell's admission. They claim the doctors “didn’t really care”.
“The surgeon basically said that he needed that (surgery) straight away,” Hannah told The Brisbane Times .
“We also asked why they didn’t give him a catheter, and they said they didn’t think of that.
“We had to ask for pain relief for David … He was put into a coma because they couldn’t control his pain. We never really got to say goodbye to him.
“It was like they didn’t really care. The moment he got moved into the intensive care unit, that’s when they got serious.
“I want justice for David … or just answers. You don’t ever think anything like this could ever happen to you and then it does.”
Statement.
In a statement, Mater Hospital said it was unable to comment on Mr Dowell’s death.
“Mater offers its deepest condolences to the family of Mr David Dowell. Mr Dowell’s case was referred to the coroner, who determined Mater had provided appropriate care and no further action was required. Mater is unable to comment further on the case due to patient confidentiality.”
