Valentine Thurairajah's wife Suki was admitted to the Canberra Hospital for haemodialysis in July 2011 but breathing complications led to the placement of a tracheal tube.

An interim finding by the coroner said the tube had been incorrectly put down the 55-year-old's oesophagus, pushing air into her stomach instead of down her windpipe and into her lungs.

She spent 10 days in a coma before being declared officially dead.

Mr Thurairajah told the ACT Coroners Court on Friday his wife had previously undertaken dialysis at home before shifting to treatment within the hospital.

He said her treatment on July 29 in 2011, the day of the incident, was to be her first at the hospital.

''She was a little bit nervous,'' he said.

Mr Thurairajah said he had left the hospital, but returned after their 25-year-old daughter received a call from intensive care staff.

“She was brain dead,” he said.

“Their diagnosis was there was nothing much that could be done.”

Earlier, Dr David McColl told the court he had assessed Mrs Thurairajah following the incident and tests found widespread and “very severe” brain damage.

He said even with improvements, she would have had limited cognitive ability and would “no longer be the person that the family had known”.

“The best that she could look forward to was a life of severe disability,” he said.

Dr McColl said the damage could have been caused by lack of oxygen and lack of blood flow.

Mr Thurairajah said he had been “under a lot of pressure” to make a decision regarding life support and, upon consultation, medical staff came to the consensus that it would be better for his wife to turn off the system.

He told the court he was “very keen” for an inquest, to avoid similar incidents happening again.

“We are now in a position to understand what happened to a large extent and hopefully move forward from here,” he said.

Mr Thurairajah’s comments follow days of evidence from medical staff involved in the treatment of his wife, including Dr Claire-Mary Thomsett, who broke down in tears on the stand on Tuesday.

The anaesthetic registrar said she had never performed an emergency placement of the tracheal tube before July 29, when she was called to the patient’s room via an emergency page.

Two doctors were already in the room, but Dr Thomsett said she was forced to break with her normal practice and do multiple parts of the procedure on her own after requests for assistance weren’t responded to.

Mr Thurairajah’s evidence was the last to be given as part of the inquest, which should receive final submissions by February 21.

Findings on the inquest could be delivered as early as March 3.