Finding into death of X Y
Deceased
XY
Demographics
27y, female
Date of death
2016-12-21
Finding date
2020-01-31
Cause of death
Combined drug toxicity
AI-generated summary
XY, a 27-year-old woman, died from combined drug toxicity on 21–22 December 2016 at a friend's house in Melbourne. She had a history of opioid use, depression, and anxiety following a violent crime. She was enrolled in rehabilitation but relapsed following trauma from her attackers' trial. On 21 December, XY consumed prescribed antidepressants, diverted methadone (Physeptone tablets), illicit methylamphetamine, and other drugs. She displayed overdose signs: deep sleep, snoring, grunting, vomiting, and heavy breathing. Her friends recognised these signs but did not call emergency services. She was found dead approximately 12 hours later. The coroner found that had her friends called for help, the death may have been prevented. The coroner recommended expanding overdose education and naloxone programs to prescribed opioid users and their families.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Error types
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Use of illicit methylamphetamine
- Consumption of diverted methadone (Physeptone tablets)
- Consumption of prescribed fluoxetine and mirtazapine
- Alcohol consumption
- Relapse into drug use following trauma from violent crime
- Failure to recognise and respond to overdose signs by witnesses
Coroner's recommendations
- Expand overdose education and naloxone programs to include users of prescribed strong opioids (methadone, physeptone, and similar drugs) and their family members
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 —