Madison Eastmond, Murray Pioneer

A Riverland man is searching for answers after his wife died on the Renmark airport tarmac, while waiting hours for a critical air ambulance last month.

After suffering a heart attack on the evening of September 20, on the family’s Renmark fruit block, 76-year-old Jane Logos was taken to the Berri-based Riverland General Hospital and waited until nearly 4am for an attempt to transfer her to Flinders Medical Centre (FMC), before tragically passing on the tarmac.

“I was told I would be able to see her when she was stabilised, which was around 10.30pm,” Jane’s husband, Paul Logos claimed.

“We were then informed by a doctor that an air ambulance had been called.

“We then waited and waited, but in the meantime, her condition deteriorated.

“Jane was in extreme pain — a level 10 — but nothing the nursing staff could do would alleviate it.

“Just before 4am, an ambulance crew arrived, but after looking at her monitor, they said they were not qualified to move her, she needed a specialist crew.

“There was also time spent (converting) hospital data into the ambulance system, it was like each were using different information systems — there was no flow.

“So, we again waited, and it wasn’t until after 4am that she was loaded to be taken to the Renmark airport (for transfer to FMC), and I was instructed to go home and collect items she would need for post-operative care at Flinders.

“However, an hour later, when I rang FMC to check (on Jane), they told me they had not received any patient by that name.

“Then — in the middle of a phone call with a family member who worked at Flinders — the Riverland General Hospital rang me to let me know Jane had died while being loaded onto the air ambulance she had waited six hours for.”

However, in a statement provided to The Murray Pioneer last week, a South Australian Ambulance Service (SAAS) spokesperson refuted the family’s claim of a delay.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to Mrs Logos’s family,” the spokesperson said.

“There was not a six-hour delay in getting a MedSTAR retrieval for Mrs Logos.

“A planned MedSTAR aeromedical transfer from Berri Hospital to Flinders Medical Centre was organised for Mrs Logos following consultation with specialists.

“Mrs Logos received treatment and her condition stabilised at Berri Hospital ahead of the planned transfer.

“This was upgraded to an emergency medical retrieval at 1.27am after the patient’s condition deteriorated.

“The transfer team arrived at 3:44am to transfer Mrs Logos to Renmark Airfield for MedSTAR retrieval, however sadly Mrs Logos passed away during handover.”

Yet, following the SAAS statement, and a recent letter from the Coroner’s office — which states a post mortem report has given a provisional cause of death as blood filling around the heart “due to a ruptured left ventricle due to myocardial infarction” — Mr Logos has begun to question why Mrs Logos’ condition was not treated as an emergency medical retrieval immediately.

“I would think that someone suffering from a heart attack and delivered to a hospital would be classified as an emergency, and when they were stabilised, they would immediately be air lifted to an appropriate facility,” Mr Logos said.

“(But), the fact she was slowly bleeding to death, and the long delay by the air ambulance there seems little prospect she would have survived.

“Doesn’t the hospital have facilities or equipment to pick something like that up — a bleeding heart? And what does count as a medical emergency, waiting three hours until you’re nearly dead? And why did it take another (more than) two hours for an emergency flight to arrive?

“We could have gotten her to Adelaide quicker ourselves.

“If this is the standard of care for people living (rurally), God help us.”

As Mrs Logos was a regular gym-goer, who also attended pilates and walked up to 8000 steps per day, Mr Logos said he is still struggling to comprehend his sudden loss.

“We were together for 54 years, and to lose her so suddenly is so difficult,” Mr Logos said.

“She was selfless and always thought of everyone else, and she died of a heart attack that (may) have been bloody avoided.

“Jane was very badly let down by the system.

“(While) there is no guarantee of anything, she could have been a hell of a lot closer (to being saved) if they had known about the bleeding, or (if her condition was) declared as a medical emergency at 10.30pm. We have lost so much.”

Though deep in grief, Mr Logos and his family are determined to share Jane’s story in the hope that it could make a difference, however, the completion and provision of the post mortem report to the Coroner is said to take up to 15 months.

“I am prepared to walk through hell and back so that no other person has to go through what Jane did,” Mr Logos said.

“However, given the response (from SAAS), it feels it’s just going to be buried.

“To me, it seems the attitude is this is just what happens and this is how they operate, and we should all have to deal with it.

“There is no urgency, no feeling they want to change, or improve (their processes).

“And all politicians that have promised us they will fix our hospitals — well, they’re too busy getting photo opportunities out the front of the hospital doors, instead of stepping inside and seeing what needs to change.

“Eventually, the Coroner will finish his report, but how many (Riverland) people will or die in the meantime?

“We need our politicians not just to say something, but do something.”

A statement from the SA Ambulance Service advised The Murray Pioneer that “(SAAS) is initiating discussions with the Logos family directly”.

“SAAS takes patient privacy and confidentially seriously, and it is inappropriate for SAAS to provide specific commentary on matters before the Coroner,” it said.

Meanwhile, a Statement from SA Health said “a comprehensive clinical handover between the hospital and MedSTAR or SA Ambulance Service is required no matter whether both organisations use the same or different information systems”.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to Mrs Logos’ family,” it said.

“We cannot comment further as the matter has been referred to the Coroner.”

It is understood not all heart attacks need emergency medical retrieval, but in Mrs Logos’ case it was immediately classified as needing a transfer. This was then escalated when the patient’s condition deteriorated after a period of improved stability that followed her initial treatment at Riverland General Hospital.

It is also understood the new Berri Helipad is still under construction.

This article appeared in Murray Pioneer, 22 October 2025.