Deceased
Wayne Laurence Marshall
Demographics
54y, male
Date of death
2018-11-15
Finding date
2020-08-24
Cause of death
Methadone use in a man with asthma and sarcoidosis of the lungs
AI-generated summary
Wayne Marshall, a 54-year-old registered nurse, died from respiratory depression caused by methadone use in the context of underlying asthma and pulmonary sarcoidosis. He was found gasping for air at home and could not be revived despite 45 minutes of CPR. Toxicology revealed methadone, codeine, doxylamine, and other drugs. Critically, Marshall had no medical permit for methadone dispensation in Victoria—the drug was diverted, likely obtained illicitly. He had a longstanding opioid use disorder progressing from prescribed morphine to buprenorphine patches, then oxycodone, heroin, and methamphetamine. The coroner emphasised that methadone diversion represents a substantial public health problem, with one-third of methadone-involved overdose deaths in 2018 involving diverted drug. Key clinical lessons include the high overdose risk of methadone even in experienced opioid users, its variable pharmacokinetics, respiratory depression outlasting subjective effects, and synergistic interactions with sedating drugs.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Drugs involved
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