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Coroner's Finding: Young, Andrew Robert

Deceased

Andrew Robert Young

Demographics

61y, male

Date of death

2020-01-14

Finding date

2022-11-29

Cause of death

hanging

AI-generated summary

Andrew Robert Young, a 61-year-old man with lifelong depression and social phobia, died by hanging on 13-14 January 2020. He had received consistent psychiatric care from an experienced psychiatrist for 16 years using supportive psychotherapy, as he consistently declined antidepressant medication. In early January 2020, he overdosed on prescription painkillers following relationship breakdown and worsening back pain, requiring hospital admission. He was discharged to outpatient care with Dr McArthur and community counselling arranged. Despite appearing positive and future-focused at a counselling appointment on 7 January, he became acutely distressed following a café meeting on 13 January where he expressed emotional pain regarding his back condition and relationship loss. He died by suicide the following morning. The coroner found his medical care was appropriate throughout, with no deficiencies in psychiatric or general practice management, though his refusal of pharmacological treatment limited therapeutic options.

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

Specialties

psychiatrygeneral practiceemergency medicinepain medicine

Drugs involved

diazepam

Clinical conditions

major depressive disordersocial phobia/social anxiety disorderagoraphobiachronic back paininsomniaopioid/painkiller overdose (New Year's Day 2020)

Procedures

spinal surgery

Contributing factors

  • chronic depression with social phobia since age 18
  • chronic back pain following spinal surgery
  • recent relationship breakdown
  • refusal of antidepressant medication
  • social isolation and agoraphobia
  • loss of ability to participate in physical activities (karate, music performance)
  • poor response to previous back surgeries
  • acute emotional distress on 13 January 2020
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. Some material may have been redacted or restricted by court order or privacy requirements. 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 — report an inaccuracy here.