Deceased
Damien Perceval
Demographics
33y, male
Coroner
Coroner Kim M. W. Parkinson
Date of death
2009-04-19
Finding date
2012-09-28
Cause of death
Aspiration pneumonia and hypoxic brain injury in a man consuming alcohol and methadone
AI-generated summary
A 33-year-old man with alcohol dependence died from aspiration pneumonia and hypoxic brain injury after consuming approximately 40ml of methadone (not prescribed to him) combined with alcohol. The methadone was prescribed to and supplied by a visiting houseguest with a history of heroin addiction who had legal access to 'take-away' methadone doses. Three adults present—the houseguest, the deceased's partner, and the houseguest's partner—all became aware that the deceased had consumed methadone combined with alcohol, knew he was not a regular user, saw warning labels about the drug's dangers, and observed him becoming seriously incapacitated. Despite this awareness, they delayed calling an ambulance for approximately 1 hour after he became unresponsive and was found vomiting blood. Immediate ambulance notification may have prevented his death. The case highlights failures in take-away methadone supervision and the risks of dispensing Schedule 8 drugs without pharmacy-based oversight.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes. Report an inaccuracy.
Specialties
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
41y · Female·Combined Drug Toxicity (ethanol and benzodiazepine)
Narisha Faye Cash, 41-year-old Aboriginal woman, died on 26 March 2020 from combined drug toxicity (ethanol and benzodiazepines) following an inadequate emergency services response to her mental health crisis. She called…
30y · Female·Hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy complicating cardiac arrest of unknown aetiolog…
Heather Calgaret, a 30-year-old Aboriginal woman, died from hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy after being administered a first dose of buprenorphine (Buvidal) injection without prior stabilisation on sublingual Suboxone. …
32y · Female·Caffeine toxicity
32-year-old woman died from caffeine toxicity after ingesting caffeine tablets. She called 000 at 7:49 pm reporting dizziness and numbness but was triaged as non-urgent Code 3. Unable to connect with a secondary triage p…
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.