Finding into death of Raymond John Blackney
Deceased
Raymond John Blackney
Demographics
83y, male
Date of death
2023-09-07
Finding date
2025-07-07
Cause of death
end-stage Parkinson's disease (palliated)
AI-generated summary
Raymond John Blackney, an 83-year-old man with end-stage Parkinson's disease, died in custody at Port Phillip Prison from natural causes. He had complex medical needs including dementia, intellectual disability, and multiple comorbidities. Though the coroner found his custodial care and palliative management were reasonable and appropriate, the case highlights a systemic gap: Raymond's care needs exceeded resources available in a custodial setting. A purpose-built high-needs facility would have provided optimal specialist care and environment for managing his challenging behaviours and complex presentation. The coroner endorsed the Department of Justice recommendation for thematic review of high-care health needs in the prison population, recognising a growing aged and complex-needs cohort requiring better facilities and planning.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Drugs involved
Contributing factors
- advanced Parkinson's disease with dementia
- intellectual disability
- complex comorbidities including COPD, diabetes, kidney impairment
- care needs exceeding custodial facility resources
- absence of purpose-built high-needs facility
Coroner's recommendations
- Justice Health in collaboration with key stakeholders should undertake a thematic review into current and projected high care health needs of people in prison
Full text
Related cases
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 —