Inquest finds death of Mount Barker man waiting for ambulance 'potentially' preventable

A man's cardiac arrest death could have "potentially" been prevented had an ambulance arrived earlier, and if a paramedic had not interfered with the dispatch process, South Australia's deputy state coroner has found.

Mount Barker man John Douglas Kennedy died in the early hours of April 16, 2020, after his wife sought urgent assistance at 12:19am when he was experiencing severe chest pains — but an ambulance did not arrive until 12:43am.

Paramedics performed CPR, including administering 10 shots of adrenaline and delivering 25 defibrillations, before taking Mr Kennedy to the Mount Barker Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:08am.

South Australia's Deputy State Coroner Naomi Kereru began the inquest in February this year to determine why the ambulance was delayed, the cause of h