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Coroner's Finding: Hedrick, Gary John

Deceased

Gary John Hedrick

Demographics

53y, male

Date of death

2016-06-26

Finding date

2017-09-25

Cause of death

Drowning

AI-generated summary

Gary John Hedrick, aged 53, died from drowning after falling into an open drain while severely intoxicated (blood alcohol 0.374g/100ml). He left a private residence at 3am despite being offered accommodation, became disoriented walking home, and fell into the drain 40 metres from the house. He was unable to extricate himself from 15cm of water. This was a tragic accident with no medical system involvement. Clinical lessons include recognizing severe intoxication as a safety hazard requiring intervention—offering safe alternatives and considering involuntary protective measures when heavily intoxicated individuals refuse help. No medical errors or healthcare failures were identified.

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

Drugs involved

Contributing factors

  • Severe alcohol intoxication (blood alcohol level 0.374g/100ml)
  • Disorientation due to alcohol consumption
  • Open drain hazard
  • Refusal of offered safe accommodation
  • Unable to extricate self from water
Full text

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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.

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