Aus - Mother admits killing 5yo son with methadone

poledriver

poledriver

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
Messages
11,543
Aus - Mother admits killing 5yo son with methadone

A mother has admitted killing her five-year-old son by putting methadone in his cordial.

A court previously was told Lisa Ann Collard, 45, put methadone in a bottle of green cordial and gave it to her son at her home at Modbury Heights in Adelaide in June last year.

It heard she was trying to treat his cold.

Collard has now faced the South Australian Supreme Court on a video link.

Previously she denied charges of manslaughter and aggravated endangering life but she has now pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge and prosecutors dropped the endangering life charge.

Collard also admitted administering a prescription drug without lawful excuse.

She was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing submissions next week.

Topics: courts-and-trials, drug-offences, crime, law-crime-and-justice, murder-and-manslaughter, modbury-5092, adelaide-5000, sa, australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-17/mother-admits-killing-son-with-methadone/4265404
 
What a terrible story.
I feel for the mother, assuming that it was an accident as she claimed. She made a bad decision, and not only lost her child, and has to deal with the fact that she killed him, but she now has to spend decades in prison on top of it. Wow. Her life changed with one 15-second decision.
I have never made such a stupid decision, but I have made many stupid decisions in my life that could have been the end of me, at least, or maybe even one of my children, if things had not gone as planned. (I have never given them drugs, of course, but there are many ways to die by accident.) Glad that none of them has gone bad like the woman's decision!
 
Yeah that would be one of the worst things to have to live with..

Collard also admitted administering a prescription drug without lawful excuse.
Click to expand...

Does that mean for her or for the kid? I was wondering if she was on the methadone programme for heroin addiction, or to try and get off heroin, or if she obtained methadone illegally? I guess it doesn't really matter.
 
Are people on methadone programs not told that their medication can kill children if given to them? I mean, of all the opioids, 'done is pretty ridiculously strong.

My condolences to the mother.
 
Related to the original post case -

METHADONE treatment programs have been defended as the most effective way to handle narcotic addiction.

The Australian Medical Association said there was "no alternative" to the current takeaway dose policy which permits approved patients to receive an approved methadone dose via prescription at a nominated pharmacy.

Lisa Anne Collard, 44, appeared in Holden Hill Magistrates Court yesterday, charged with manslaughter of her son Christopher, 5, at their Modbury Heights home on Wednesday. The court had heard she allegedly put methadone in his cordial bottle. The boy had been coughing and had a running nose.

AMA SA Branch past president Dr Andrew Lavender said patients could obtain up to six months worth of methadone via a pre-selected chemist only and the dosage depended on the individual. "It in itself is a well-established program and there is no alternative," Dr Lavender said.

"For people who are addicted (to narcotics) using the program allows them to have a reasonably normal life away from the criminal society aspect of intravenous drug use."

Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia said the takeaway dose policy was consistent with the national guidelines and stringent measures were in place to monitor patient suitability for the program.

The Department of Families is providing accommodation for Ms Collard's other sons, aged 16 and 15.

Both told police they woke up during the night and heard the boy coughing and crying, the court was told.

The 16-year-old rang for an ambulance while urging his mother to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Christopher.

Yesterday, a friend of the family said the 16-year-old was a boisterous, larger-than-life character who was liked by everybody.

"He is one of those kids that when it comes to his siblings, if they are in trouble, he would be standing up for them," he said.

The State Government has announced that the Child Death and Serious Injury Committee will investigate Christopher's death.

Opposition Families and Communities spokeswoman Vickie Chapman demanded immediate disclosure of the circumstances of the boy's death.



Families Minister Jennifer Rankine said she was horrified by the allegations detailed in court.

She confirmed the family had been in contact with both Housing SA and Families SA before the boy's death.

Ms Collard was remanded in custody yesterday after a suppression order on her identity was lifted yesterday.

She will next appear in court in August.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...ver-childs-death/story-e6frea83-1226071483143
 
It seems this has happened quite alot in many places around the world.. People trying to 'calm' or cure a cold or for whatever reason, using methadone on young kids and unintentionally killing them.
 
Last edited:
sekio said:
Are people on methadone programs not told that their medication can kill children if given to them? I mean, of all the opioids, 'done is pretty ridiculously strong.
Click to expand...

Every single carry/bottle I've received always has something along the lines of (I have a terrible memory so it may not exactly be worded like so) "WARNING - INGESTION BY ANYONE OTHER THAN THE INTENDED PATIENT MAY BE FATAL" formatted (bold/uppercase) exactly like that on the label.

Anyways, yes I feel sorry for the mother if it was truly an accident, but you should know better than to give a five year old one of the most potent opioids in terms of respiratory depression and sedation. Poor kid.
 
poledriver said:
The Australian Medical Association said there was "no alternative" to the current takeaway dose policy which permits approved patients to receive an approved methadone dose via prescription at a nominated pharmacy.
Click to expand...

Of course there's an alternative: have patients dose at the clinic (or wherever it's dispensed). The question is whether or not that's necessary.

Clinics are actually a huge business whenever the patients are self-paying. Of course you socialists don't know anything about that :D
 
Some people end up stashing it at home I think I've read. But that happens with lots of medication.

Wouldn't some users of it need it at home as well because they are coming off w/drawls to some major heroin addictions sometimes? Like if they have major cravings and dont have any at home they might go score some heroin?

A dose at the clinic (or wherever) wouldn't last people over night and stuff would it? I'm pretty clueless about it obviously, never used it, never seen it, never known anyone (close) that's been on it etc.
 
poledriver said:
A dose at the clinic (or wherever) wouldn't last people over night and stuff would it? I'm pretty clueless about it obviously, never used it, never seen it, never known anyone (close) that's been on it etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah it'll last most people beyond 24 hours. It's actually a really good medicine for opioid maintenance. I'd call it ideal if it weren't for the sexual side effects (which is why I've discontinued methadone regimens at least five times already).
 
The problem is that expecting people to go to a pharmacy every single morning to collect their dose isn't reasonable. There's no point in putting someone on a program with the goal of helping them resume a normal life if said program restricts their lifestyle too much to create any changes. If you're stuck going to the same pharmacist every single morning your ability to move around, take holidays, work a career etc. are greatly limited. Even with take-away doses it's still limited, but at least you can use them as necessary to get to work early, or stay late, or go away for the weekend, and so forth.

What happened to the baby is tragic, but the media are using it to take shots at an easy target to gain viewers, which is a pretty shitty thing to do.

That said, I have to wonder at the idiocy of a mother who'd give fucking methadone to their child. Maybe parents on maintenance need to be educated, make sure they're aware that methadone suppresses breathing even more than most opioids, and that nobody other than a professional should be trying to gauge the right dose for a tiny baby?
 
I had to dose at the pharmacy every day for months, on a two week script I had to drive an 8 hour round trip each fortnight to get a piece of paper saying I was allowed to be prescribed this medication, all after I'd asked for help with my addiction. This isn't my idea of living a normal life, especially when you consider the costs involved of travel, the inability to work a 9-5 job and the fact that for me, methadone doesn't last 24 hours, so I'm sick at least 4 hours every day.

I really don't see how anybody can say that take-home doses should be discouraged because 0.001% of people on opiate maintenance are fucking idiots and kill their own children. There's a lot of fuckwits in the world, also a lot who have killed their own children - on purpose too! They're not limited to methadone patients. A little bit of understanding of the issue and some context would surely help those who are unfamiliar with methadone maintenance.

One of my friends thought I was going in to the chemist to get injected with methadone. I fucking couldn't believe it.

What a stupid bitch, she deserves jail and the fact that she has to live with herself after killing her own child.
 
Crankinit said:
The problem is that expecting people to go to a pharmacy every single morning to collect their dose isn't reasonable.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you man. I had to drag my ass to the clinic every damn morning (weekends too) for two years straight before my doctor finally decided he'd let me have one carry for Sunday (at the time, I had clean urine tests results for about a year).

I remember there was a couple of different times where I got really sick with the stomach flu. I don't know about you guys but the stomach flu hits me like a brick wall. I'm constantly throwing up and I'm so weak that I can't stand up. Anyways, I tried to plead my case with them, telling them that I'm bedridden. I was hoping I could get a family member to go pick up my dose (and they were willing to help me out for one day), and so I asked them about it. I was basically told to fuck off and come in if I can and dose, or don't come in and I don't get a drop. Asshats.
 
ro4eva said:
I totally agree with you man. I had to drag my ass to the clinic every damn morning (weekends too) for two years straight before my doctor finally decided he'd let me have one carry for Sunday (at the time, I had clean urine tests results for about a year).

I remember there was a couple of different times where I got really sick with the stomach flu. I don't know about you guys but the stomach flu hits me like a brick wall. I'm constantly throwing up and I'm so weak that I can't stand up. Anyways, I tried to plead my case with them, telling them that I'm bedridden. I was hoping I could get a family member to go pick up my dose (and they were willing to help me out for one day), and so I asked them about it. I was basically told to fuck off and come in if I can and dose, or don't come in and I don't get a drop. Asshats.
Click to expand...

Wow dude that's fucked. They made you wait 2 years for a single TA dose? That's disgusting, how the fuck do they expect people to change their lives when they have to go to some clinic every morning? Sounds like one of those asshole doctors who enjoys making drug addicts suffer " for their own good" :X

Here you get 6 after 2 months, then 12 after 9. I think they should be spread out a little more evenly to give a persistent reward for staying clean and on the program, but at least it's something. Luckily I get a private script from my doctor (bupe, not methadone) so I don't have to go to one of those so called "clinics."
 
Crankinit said:
Wow dude that's fucked. They made you wait 2 years for a single TA dose? That's disgusting, how the fuck do they expect people to change their lives when they have to go to some clinic every morning? Sounds like one of those asshole doctors who enjoys making drug addicts suffer " for their own good" :X

Here you get 6 after 2 months, then 12 after 9. I think they should be spread out a little more evenly to give a persistent reward for staying clean and on the program, but at least it's something. Luckily I get a private script from my doctor (bupe, not methadone) so I don't have to go to one of those so called "clinics."
Click to expand...

Yeah I was really pissed off (and a little depressed) about it. I remember saying to myself that I should go back to using (not opiates as they won't do shit anyways, but some mdma or blow). What's the point if I'm not gonna get any carries?

One of the biggest things that contributed to me getting ticked off and depressed was the fact that when I would ask him why he wouldn't give me a carry, he would never give me a straight answer.
 
shit i go every frekin day over 300 days now no takehomes yet getin 1 soon, i hope nxt week, wow i get 1 day off now ,n 1 every 30 if i piss clean, i like smoking pot n i will not stop 4 any1, damit ,,u no?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top