Finding into death of Mary Veronica Payne
Deceased
Mary Veronica Payne
Demographics
71y, female
Date of death
2019-01-07
Finding date
2020-09-28
Cause of death
Combined drug toxicity in a woman with emphysema
AI-generated summary
Mary Veronica Payne, a 71-year-old woman with emphysema, died from combined drug toxicity after ingesting her daughter's methadone. The deceased had a long-standing history of chronic back pain from an old car accident and depression, managed by her GP with various medications. Her daughter was undergoing methadone maintenance therapy for opioid dependence and stored takeaway doses in the deceased's refrigerator while staying as her carer. Without a valid permit to prescribe methadone, and with no medical records indicating she had been prescribed it, the deceased appears to have consumed diverted methadone in combination with benzodiazepines, opioids, and other CNS depressants already in her system. The coroner emphasised that methadone diversion remains a significant contributor to Victorian overdose deaths and highlighted the need for improved education and policy regarding safe storage of methadone in households where prescribed doses are kept for other residents.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Error types
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Ingestion of diverted methadone from daughter's prescribed supply
- Unsafe storage of methadone in shared household
- Concomitant use of multiple CNS depressants (benzodiazepines, opioids, antidepressants)
- Underlying emphysema
- Lack of medical oversight of methadone consumption
Coroner's recommendations
- The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) should consider the circumstances of this death in light of their current Policy for Maintenance Pharmacotherapy for Opioid Dependence and whether there are any safeguards for unsupervised methadone dosing that might reasonably have prevented this death
- Improve policy and education pertaining to methadone safe storage to reduce diversion and non-clinical use
- Consider tightening access to unsupervised methadone dosing and conducting better assessment of patient suitability for unsupervised dosing
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