Overview
- Police wrongly notified a Werribee family that their relative had died after documents found with a Tarneit body led officers to the wrong identity, a mix-up tied to hospital records from May 13.
- The living woman, Michelle Buckley, found that appointments and tests for the deceased had been merged into her My Health Record, with entries dating back months.
- Werribee Mercy Hospital told Buckley the deceased had told staff on four separate occasions that her details were wrong but no correction was made.
- Mercy Health has apologised and launched a review into how patient files were linked while Victoria Police has issued a formal apology and the woman has hired Slater and Gordon and begun legal action.
- The episode highlights how errors in hospital patient identification can propagate through digital systems such as My Health Record and shows the need for clearer verification steps, faster record correction, and stronger privacy safeguards.