A 71-year-old woman with mental health issues died from starvation in community housing shortly after she was found gravely ill by police, who didn’t call an ambulance.
The lonely death of the woman, known only as HJ, in the northern Hobart suburb of Bridgewater raises “several issues”, according to a coroner’s report.
Three Tasmania Police officers visited HJ’s home on December 9, 2021, to conduct a concern-for-welfare check after a neighbour reported not seeing her for about two weeks.
She did not answer the door, prompting two officers to force their way into the unit through the back door.
Their interactions were captured on body-worn camera.
“[HJ] was obviously malnourished and frail. Her hair, grey in colour, was matted into large clumps. Her eyes were glazed,” Coroner Simon Cooper wrote.
“In her discussions with the police … HJ made no sense.
“It is abundantly plain viewing the footage, which frankly is uncomfortable to watch, that HJ was gravely ill – both mentally and physically.
“However, without contacting an ambulance, the police left, apparently having reached the view that HJ did not require immediate medical attention.”
The officers contacted housing provider Centrecare Evolve to inform it repairs were needed on a door.
After returning to the police station, the officers filed a report apparently with the understanding a crisis assessment and treatment team and Centrecare would be contacted and HJ would receive appropriate attention.
“The evidence is that a report was duly submitted. And there the matter rested,” Mr Cooper wrote.
HJ was found dead almost a month later after her brother, concerned about her welfare, called police when she didn’t come to the door.
Mr Cooper said the cause of HJ’s death was obviously starvation. She weighed just 35 kilograms.
Paramedics noted the house, surrounded by chest-high grass and with a garden full of rubbish, contained no food. In the fridge, there was only a dirty, empty cup.
Mr Cooper said HJ had a lengthy, well-documented history of mental illness and lived the life of a hermit, estranged from her family and without friends.
“The decision by attending police … not to call an ambulance to at least enable a mental state assessment to be carried out was, in my view, wrong,” he said.
“The fact that the submission of an internal report by police actually achieved nothing to assist an obviously gravely ill person is very concerning.”
Mr Cooper also said Centrecare’s apparent inaction when called by police to repair the door was difficult to understand.
Police said the belief of an attending officer that a street check would generate a notification to mental health services was a “misunderstanding by an individual, not a belief embedded across the organisation”.
Police told the coroner they were updating their manual to reinforce the need to call mental health services when necessary, and to highlight that the police information system did not have the capability to send notifications.
Mr Cooper made no recommendations given Tasmania Police’s response.
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– AAP
