Child deaths: Coroner highlights bad connections between GP and specialist mental health service
Katica Perinovic stabbed herself and her children weeks after being diagnosed with first episode psychosis
A coroner has highlighted poor communication between a specialist mental health service and patient’s GP in the months before she killed herself and her three children.
Katica Perinovic, 42, fatally stabbed her three children aged seven, five and three eight weeks after being diagnosed with first episode psychosis in November 2020.
A physiotherapist, she had abruptly quit her job after becoming paranoid about her colleagues, the Coroners Court of Victoria heard.
She initially consulted her regular GP for “stress and anxiety” in early November. But within a week he had referred her to the NorthWestern Mental Health (NWMH) service after it became clear she was paranoid.
