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Ecstasy death a warning for users, says coroner
3rd June 2009, 6:00 WST
Overdose: Michelle Poore, 21, was happy, attractive and bubbly and well loved, the coroner said.
The death of 21-year-old Michelle Poore from an ecstasy overdose in Dunsborough two years ago was accidental and there was no evidence her boyfriend failed to do what he could to help her, deputy State coroner Evelyn Vicker said yesterday.
But Ms Vicker said she was concerned recreational drug users were not aware that an ecstasy overdose was potentially fatal, unpredictable and there was no antidote.
By the time an ambulance was called it probably was too late to save Ms Poore, Ms Vicker said.
Ms Poore died in the early hours of New Years Eve in 2006, after taking 3½ heartshaped ecstasy tablets during a holiday with boyfriend Nicholas Gudden and his friends at the Best Western Hotel in Dunsborough.
The four-day inquest into her death last month was told her family wanted to establish if Mr Gudden and his friend Benjamin White could be charged with manslaughter for not calling an ambulance earlier than they did.
Ms Vicker said she would not refer the death of Ms Poore — whom she described as happy, attractive and bubbly and well loved — to the Director of Public Prosecutions. “I am not of the view there is evidence to suggest Mr Gudden and Mr White breached a duty of care to the deceased by their actions in trying to assist her,” she said.
“Pursuing criminal charges in such circumstances many not be conducive to getting medical attention for an overdose quickly, where the people helping are concerned their bona fide efforts may later be questioned.”
Ms Vicker said Mr Gudden was not aware of the significance of the amount of ecstasy his girlfriend had taken.
Ms Vicker’s finding follows a gruelling inquest last month in which the coroner called 20 witnesses, many part of the close-knit group of friends who had been celebrating New Year’s Eve together two years ago.
That night, Ms Poore left the motel after an argument with Mr Gudden. He found her curled up in room 40 talking about wanting to go home. She sat in her car, where they argued again. Mr Gudden went to grab their room keys and when he returned saw the empty packet of ecstasy. He called his friend Mr White to try to talk Miss Poore out of the car. They persuaded her to go to room 38.
When Mr White’s girlfriend Natalie Long arrived she insisted they call an ambulance, at 10.45pm. “They were in a state of disbelief and quite happy to respond to someone else’s direction,” Ms Vicker said.
Toxicologist David Joyce told the coroner that from evidence, Ms Poore had ingested up to 800mg of MDMA, the active ingredient of ecstasy. Ms Vicker recommended that police ensure remnants of drugs in a fatal overdose should be analysed.
Ms Poore’s mother, Sharon MacKay, told Channel 9’s A Current Affair she did not agree with the finding and said her daughter’s life could have been saved.
Mrs MacKay criticised the investigation and said she had to live with not knowing how and why her daughter died.
GEORGIA LONEY
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=145566
