Man dies after declared too big for scanner

An obese man who was short of breath and vomiting "black stuff" when he presented at a Queensland emergency department died after scanning equipment which would have diagnosed his condition could not handle his weight.

The 63-year-old man died from a gastrointestinal haemorrhage caused by a duodenal ulcer, the Courier Mail reports.

He had been wrongly diagnosed with an inflamed gallbladder.

The Health Quality and Complaints Commissions' (HQCC) annual report for 2010/2011 found a definitive diagnosis before his death was impossible because of the "capacity limits" of the hospital's CT scanner.

"The hospital radiology department concerned had the largest CT scanner available, however the scanner table could not carry a patient of the man's weight," the HQCC report said.

It went on to state that even if the scanner could accommodate the man, the thickness of his tissue would have "severely limited" the accuracy of the scan results.

The report said the healthcare provided to the man was "appropriate under the circumstances".