MELBOURNE, Australia — A coroner has ruled that a woman who died from a caffeine overdose after waiting more than 7 hours for an ambulance may have survived if paramedics had arrived sooner, 9News reported.
Christina Lackmann, 32, was found dead in her Melbourne apartment in April 2021. She had called Australia’s emergency number, 000, reporting dizziness, numbness and an inability to stand. Her call was categorized as non-urgent, and she was placed in a queue for secondary triage.
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Lackmann did not report taking caffeine tablets during the initial call. Ambulance Victoria staff attempted to call her back 14 times and sent one text message, but received no response. About an hour after her initial call, the priority level was raised, but two ambulances dispatched to her were redirected to higher-priority incidents, according to 9News.
Paramedics arrived at her home shortly before 3 a.m. — more than 7 hours after the call was made. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A coroner’s report released on June 13 stated that toxicology results showed a high and potentially fatal concentration of caffeine in Lackmann’s system. An email on her phone indicated she had received a shipment of caffeine tablets the day of the call. The tablets and packaging were not found in the apartment.
Medical experts testified that caffeine overdoses can become deadly within 8 hours, but early hospital treatment would have likely included questions about what she had taken, possibly leading to lifesaving intervention.
The coroner called the response delay “unacceptable,” noting that over 80% of the ambulance fleet was ramped outside hospitals the night Lackmann died. Ambulance Victoria said it has made internal changes and is working with the health department to improve ambulance offload times at hospitals.
