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Coroner's Finding: Lampkin, Christopher Maxwell

Deceased

Christopher Maxwell Lampkin

Demographics

57y, male

Date of death

2021-07-25/2021-07-31

Finding date

2022-10-31

Cause of death

hanging

AI-generated summary

Christopher Maxwell Lampkin, a 57-year-old man with longstanding depression and alcohol dependence, died by hanging in July 2021. He had been treated for depression since 2009 and had attended an alcohol and drugs service in 2011 for binge drinking patterns. Medical records showed he had been prescribed antidepressants and other medications, with his last GP visit in February 2021. In October 2019, he expressed desire to return to psychological treatment but this referral did not eventuate. He was a socially isolated individual who kept to himself despite living near friends. The coroner found he was treated appropriately by medical practitioners and the death could not have been foreseen or prevented. Clinical lessons include the importance of acting on patient requests for mental health referrals, recognising suicide risk in patients with chronic depression and alcohol dependence, and maintaining engagement with isolated individuals in follow-up care.

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

Contributing factors

  • depression
  • alcohol dependence
  • social isolation
  • previous relationship breakdowns
  • anxiety disorder
  • subtherapeutic antidepressant level
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 —