Finding into death of Mrs R
Deceased
Mrs R
Demographics
57y, female
Date of death
2024-03-30
Finding date
2025-05-08
Cause of death
Asphyxia - Inhalation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
AI-generated summary
Mrs R, a 57-year-old woman with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and depression, died from asphyxia by inhalation of liquefied petroleum gas. On 31 March 2024, family unable to contact her requested a police welfare check. Police obtained information about her mental health history, previous suicide attempts, recent breakdown, and family separation, but determined welfare check was unnecessary as there was no 'imminent and serious harm'. The coroner found the welfare check should have been conducted given her significant risk factors, though likely would not have prevented her death as she had probably already deceased. Key lesson: comprehensive risk assessment in welfare checks requires consideration of accumulated risk factors, not solely recent direct threats. Clear police protocols for welfare check decision-making are essential.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Error types
Drugs involved
Contributing factors
- Mental health history including bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, suicidal ideation
- Previous suicide attempts by carbon monoxide poisoning and self-harm
- Recent relationship breakdown and family violence
- Recent unusual behaviour and mental health breakdown
- No contact with mental health services since 2022
- Family unable to conduct welfare check themselves due to distance and Intervention Order
- Failure to conduct welfare check despite multiple risk indicators
Coroner's recommendations
- The Chief Commissioner of Police develop a chapter for the Victoria Police Manual to provide clear and specific guidance to police members to inform their judgment as to the circumstances in which welfare checks are required to be conducted
Full text
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