An Australian woman died of caffeine overdose after waiting more than seven hours for an ambulance, a coroner has ruled, saying that the delay was a factor in her death.
Biomedical student Christina Lackmann, 32, was found dead in her Melbourne flat in April 2021. Her death was caused by an overdose of caffeine tablets, Coroner Catherine Fitzgerald found earlier this month, according to media channel news.com.au on Tuesday.
Lackmann had called the emergency line for help just before 8pm on April 21, 2021, saying she felt dizzy and numb, and could not get up from the floor. “Please hurry,” she said.
Believing she was just having vertigo, the operator classified Lackmann’s case as non-urgent, Stuff news website reported. When the operator called her back 30 minutes later, she did not answer.
Her phone went unanswered for the next 13 calls and her case was reclassified to ensure an ambulance would be dispatched. However, because of the high demand, two ambulance teams assigned to Lackmann were diverted to higher priority cases.
Help came only shortly before 3am, more than seven hours since Lackmann’s call for help. Paramedics had to climb through a neighbour’s balcony to gain entry and found her lying on the bathroom floor with her agitated dog by her side. She had been dead for some time, according to the New York Post newspaper.
A toxicology report showed that Lackmann had dangerously high levels of caffeine in her blood at the time of her death, national broadcaster 9 News reported. An email on her phone found that she had received an iHerb order of 90 200mg caffeine tablets that day.
