Coronial
SAcommunity

Coroner's Finding: DREIMAN Skaidrite

Deceased

Skaidrite Dreiman

Demographics

83y, female

Date of death

2003-11-17

Finding date

2006-11-23

Cause of death

Drowning, likely associated with cardiac arrhythmia or tidal conditions, or a combination of both

AI-generated summary

Skaidrite Dreiman, 83, disappeared while swimming at Brighton Beach on 17 November 2003 and is presumed dead by drowning. She had a significant cardiac history including atrial fibrillation managed with medications, a mitral valve repair, and a pacemaker. She went swimming in warm weather after changing clothes and driving to her favourite beach location. Despite extensive searches, her body was never recovered, likely due to sea lice scavenging. The coroner found drowning the most likely cause, either from a cardiac arrhythmia event or from getting out of her depth in higher than usual tidal conditions. No medical negligence or healthcare system failures were identified. The case highlights risks of swimming with uncontrolled cardiac conditions.

AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.

Contributing factors

  • cardiac arrhythmia
  • mitral regurgitation with pacemaker
  • possibly elevated tidal conditions on the day
  • higher than usual tidal conditions that week
  • strong east-north-easterly winds with gusts to 63 km/h
  • possible reduced swimming confidence in deeper water
  • recreational swimming alone with uncontrolled cardiac condition
Full text

Source and disclaimer

This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.

Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.

Copyright in original materials remains with the relevant government jurisdiction. AI-generated summaries and tagging are for educational purposes only, may contain inaccuracies, and must not be treated as legal documents. We welcome feedback for correction —