{"id":569239,"date":"2026-03-28T04:17:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T04:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/569239\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T04:17:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T04:17:57","slug":"family-launches-palliative-care-foundation-after-33-year-old-sons-final-hospital-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/569239\/","title":{"rendered":"Family launches palliative care foundation after 33-year-old son’s final hospital experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan Bowman has faced more health battles than most in his 33 years.<\/p>\n

Born with five congenital heart defects, he underwent four surgeries, the last of which left him with an acquired brain injury.<\/p>\n

Called a “miracle baby” in an article in the Adelaide Advertiser, he persevered through his teenage years to obtain his driver’s licence and become a father in his 20s.<\/p>\n

In 2023, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma but, after intense chemotherapy, was able to celebrate entering remission.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ryan Bowman was born with five congenital heart defects. (Supplied: Deb Brooks)<\/p>\n

“He loved his friends, loved his siblings, and especially loved his nieces and nephews, and, of course, his daughter,” Ryan’s mother, Deb Brooks said.<\/p>\n

“After he had the acquired brain injury, it was rehab, he had to learn to walk, talk, see.<\/p>\n

“That sort of stayed with him throughout his life.”<\/p>\n

A year after entering remission, Ryan was diagnosed with late-stage heart failure.<\/p>\n

On February 15, 2025, he was admitted to Mount Gambier and Districts Health Service.<\/p>\n

“Ryan was admitted quite unwell on a Saturday morning, he had a chest X-ray and was diagnosed with double pneumonia,” Deb said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Ryan was a lifelong Adelaide Crows supporter. (Supplied: Deb Brooks)<\/p>\n

As his condition worsened, Ryan’s admission became a case of palliative care, which his mother and an independent report both say fell short of expectations.<\/p>\n

“One of our big things was not to talk in front of Ryan and they did,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They spoke about ‘this could be end of life’, things like that.”<\/p>\n

Delayed care and ignored phobias<\/p>\n

Deb and Ryan’s stepfather, Chris Brooks, knew Ryan’s baseline health diagnostics “like the back of their hand” and kept a laminated sheet of paper to assist paramedics and hospitals when Ryan required care.<\/p>\n

“To put it into perspective, if Ryan or someone like Ryan was to present to the Mount Gambier hospital today, the Mount Gambier hospital wouldn’t see another Ryan for 200,000 years; they were the odds,” Chris said.\"A<\/p>\n

Ryan was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, but battled through chemotherapy and entered remission.\u00a0 (Supplied: Deb Brooks)<\/p>\n

Chris said information provided from himself and Deb, such as Ryan’s fear of needles, went unheeded and led to a situation where a tray of needles was placed on his stomach prior to drugs being administered.<\/p>\n

“We made it clear that if any end-of-life medication was to be administered, it was to go through his cannula so that he didn’t have to experience any more pain, if you like,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That didn’t happen.”<\/p>\n

The independent review, undertaken by the director of palliative care at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Professor Mark Boughey, found a number of shortfalls in Ryan’s care.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Deb and Chris say they want to help create better palliative care outcomes for regional families. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n

The report said a significant change occurred in Ryan’s condition around 1:30am and a call was made by nurses at 4:30am to the overnight doctor to review the patient.<\/p>\n

That doctor’s review was conducted at around 7am, which the report noted “in retrospect appears delayed and delayed recognition of significant deterioration”.<\/p>\n

Another review at around 9:30am prompted a shift from stabilisation to palliative care, but pain relief was not administered until around 1:30pm.<\/p>\n

Ryan died shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n

Professor Boughey’s report also found Ryan’s family’s wishes and knowledge of his condition were often ignored, despite their long-standing role in his care.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A memorial to Ryan in Chris and Deb’s home. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n

“Following Ryan’s death, and in discussions with his family, the [Limestone Coast Local Health Network] LCLHN commissioned an external clinical review to independently assess the care provided to Ryan at the Mount Gambier and District Health Service,” LCLHN CEO Emma Poland said.<\/p>\n

“The LCLHN has accepted the findings and recommendations from the review and is committed to implementing them as part of our health service quality improvement processes.”<\/p>\n

Hospitals need rethink<\/p>\n

Flinders University palliative care expert Claudia Virdun said it was common for families to feel ill-informed about the palliative care their loved one was receiving in a hospital setting.<\/p>\n

She said modern medicine meant patients with complex health conditions tended to live longer, making specialised care more important.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Claudia Virdun says hospitals need to rethink how they give palliative care.\u00a0 (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

“Our hospitals are really well set up in Australia to support people who have acute and episodic concerns that are curable,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But we’re not so well-set-up to care for people who are now living with multiple serious illnesses that are not curable.”<\/p>\n

Dr Virdun said giving more healthcare workers specialist training in palliative care would lead to better experiences for patients and families.<\/p>\n

“Training is the first step, but we really need better systems in our health environments to embed that training in practice,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We often can learn about what optimal, safe, evidence-based care is, but delivering that in some of our systems and structures isn’t always as straightforward as it needs to be.”<\/p>\n

Educating the next generation<\/p>\n

Ryan’s family has spent the year since his death planning a foundation to promote better end-of-life care in hospitals.<\/p>\n

They launched the Ryan Bowman Legacy of Care Foundation, which will give scholarships to health practitioners to undertake further study in palliative care.<\/p>\n

The foundation will first offer scholarships to healthcare workers in the Limestone Coast, and plans to expand to the rest of regional South Australia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ryan (middle) with his brother, Lachie, and his mother, Deb. (Supplied: Chris and Deb Brooks)<\/p>\n

“When a family member presents to a facility with a very sick child, parent, baby, whatever the case may be, it’s the first time generally that that clinician has seen that person,” Chris said.<\/p>\n

“We feel as though there needs to be a mesh between that carer, parent, loved one being the centre of that mesh for the ongoing treatment of that individual.”<\/p>\n

The charity has partnered with the US-based DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Foundation, which has run a global nurse-recognition program since 2000.<\/p>\n

Bonnie and Mark Barnes started the foundation after the death of Mark’s son Patrick and has recognised around 4 million nurses across the world, creating guidance programs for patient-centred care for use in medical facilities.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mark and Bonnie Barnes say recognising good health care leads to better patient outcomes. (Supplied: The DAISY Foundation)<\/p>\n

“What happens when you have a structured way of celebrating all the good things that are going on, it really changes the culture,” Ms Barnes said.<\/p>\n

“We see cultures that are inspired with gratitude, that become more innovative, where compassion, fatigue and burnout are mitigated as a result of having been recognised or nominated for an award like this.<\/p>\n

“There are numerous benefits to nurses and their organisations and to the patients who write the nominations of having a culture where meaningful recognition is predominant.”<\/p>\n

Throughout Ryan’s life, Deb kept a detailed journal of his health battles, personal milestones and her thoughts during his journey.<\/p>\n

Across hundreds of hospital visits across his life, Ryan was seen by dozens of doctors, nurses and paramedics.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Deb has put around three decades of journal entries into a book she is hoping to release. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n

Deb said her son made a number of great connections with healthcare workers.<\/p>\n

“I think with the end-of-life care, you just get one chance to get it right,” Deb said.<\/p>\n

“Because, you know, working with families, we’ll always remember what you did, but we’ll never forget what you didn’t do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Bowman has faced more health battles than most in his 33 years. Born with five congenital heart…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,279846,279848,137,500,279844,279851,279850,29560,47942,279849,279845,279847],"class_list":["post-569239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-medical-scholarships","tag-end-of-life-care-australia","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-medical-scholarships-palliative-care","tag-medical-scholarships-south-australia","tag-mount-gambier-hospital","tag-palliative-care","tag-regional-hospitals","tag-ryan-bowman-legacy-of-care-foundation","tag-scholarships-palliative-care","tag-study-palliative-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}