Australia has ignored calls for an inquest into Khan’s death. Nauru has refused to investigate. And a forensic pathologist could not determine the young man’s cause of death.



Now, a whistleblower has made explosive claims about the quality of care Khan received in Nauru’s hospital. In an exclusive interview a nurse who worked there at the time of Khan’s death told BuzzFeed News of their concerns over his treatment by hospital doctors.

“They didn’t take him as a serious case,” said the nurse, who requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Two days before he died, Khan was taken by ambulance to the Republic of Nauru Hospital in the early hours of the morning complaining of chest pains, palpitations, nausea and vomiting, the nurse claimed.

An ECG revealed he had an elevated heart rate, but doctors did not investigate further. Although a lab technician was on call to perform blood tests 24/7, the hospital did not disturb them.

“They could have woken up the lab technician,” the nurse said. “The doctor just took his vitals and gave him Panadol.”

A Sydney emergency specialist who later wrote a report for Khan’s family’s lawyers concluded that Khan would have been treated differently in Australia, and the initial assessments were “not to a standard I would expect in a major Australian ED [emergency department].”

“A young patient presenting with a complaint of chest pain should be taken seriously,” the doctor wrote. His symptoms would be a “red flag” for potentially more serious causes, like pneumonia, sepsis, a collapsed lung or a pulmonary embolism.

Khan should have been fully investigated to exclude and manage any serious or life-threatening causes, the doctor wrote. That would have meant a clinical examination, full history, chest X-ray, blood tests, a kidney function test and tests for blood clots and stroke.

“I would not find it satisfactory that a patient complaining of chest pain and tachycardia would be discharged prior to an adequate assessment having taken place.”

But Khan was allowed to leave the hospital.