Doctors reported to AHPRA over phone consult with patient who later died from overdose
Pain specialists should have seen the patient before upping her methodone dose, says coroner
A decision by doctors to increase a patient’s methadone dose based on a phone consult “contributed substantially” to the patient’s fatal overdose the following day, a coroner has found.
Jessica Higgins had a long history of severe back pain linked to her work as a supervisor on a bus service for disabled children.
Having become dependent on opioids, in May 2017 the 33-year-old was admitted to a rehabilitation centre for a ketamine infusion, with the goal of rotating her onto methadone.
She was discharged on 23 May, still taking 5mg diazepam tablets three times daily and 215mg of pregabalin twice daily.
