GP in prison for attempted murder of six-year-old struck off for 20 years
Dr Austin unsuccessfully appealed his sentence last year, claiming his depression had been responsible for his actions.
A GP imprisoned for prescribing insulin for a mother to kill her six-year-old daughter has been banned from the medical register for at least 20 years.
Dr Pieter Austin pleaded guilty to attempted murder in 2022, having prescribed 10mL of 100 units/mL insulin aspart to the girl’s mother for what he saw as a mercy killing.
The woman’s “exceptionally vulnerable” daughter had cerebral palsy, global developmental delay and Aicardi–Goutieres syndrome; she weighed 10kg and was quadriplegic, non-verbal and fed through a nasogastric tube, according to the WA Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The woman threw away the first insulin script. But when she told Dr Austin this a month later, he prescribed it again.
