Coroner's Finding: PIKE Lucas Adam
Deceased
Lucas Adam Pike
Demographics
43y, male
Date of death
2016-03-04
Finding date
2019-05-09
Cause of death
morphine (heroin) toxicity
AI-generated summary
Lucas Pike, aged 43, died from heroin toxicity after injecting heroin in a general practitioner's surgery in Adelaide. The heroin was procured by Mark Campbell and administered by Campbell in the practice's pathology room, with Pike's voluntary participation. Pike received a larger dose than Dr K.'s daughter (also present), likely entering cardiac arrest shortly after injection. Dr K. initiated CPR upon discovering the collapsed patients but Pike could not be resuscitated. The coroner found no criticism of Dr K.'s medical management but was highly critical of the police coronial investigation, which was poorly coordinated, failed to conduct thorough searches, did not forensically analyse recovered paraphernalia, and allowed Campbell to remain at the scene for two hours before discovering he possessed Pike's telephone. The coroner emphasized that deficient police investigations compromise coronial processes and public confidence.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- heroin overdose with blood morphine level of 0.12 mg/L (above 0.1 mg/L considered potentially lethal)
- voluntary consumption of heroin in a group setting
- larger dose administered to deceased compared to other participant
- likely cardiac arrest occurred shortly after injection before emergency response initiated
- delay between injection and discovery by medical personnel
- alcohol consumption prior to drug use
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