Called Emergency Services for Caffeine Overdose,
Waited Over 7 Hours for Rescue and Died
"Could Have Survived With Faster Treatment"
A new investigation has found that a woman who died from caffeine intoxication in Australia may have lost her life because she did not receive timely emergency care due to long wait times.
According to recent reports by Australian media outlet 9News, Christina Rackman, a 32-year-old woman living in Melbourne, called Triple Zero (000, Australia’s emergency number) in April 2021 after experiencing symptoms of caffeine overdose. However, she waited for rescue for more than seven hours and was later found dead in the bathroom of her home. Regarding this incident, Victoria state coroner Catherine Fitzgerald determined that "she might have survived if she had received treatment sooner."
At the time of the incident, Rackman reported feeling dizzy and numb, but did not disclose her caffeine consumption. Her call was classified as a non-urgent 'Code 3' and designated for secondary health assessment.
Afterward, there were 14 attempts to call Rackman and one text message was sent, but there was no response. About an hour later, her call was upgraded in priority, but the two ambulances assigned to her were redirected to more urgent cases. The rescue team arrived at Rackman’s home 7 hours and 11 minutes after the initial call. By the time the ambulance arrived, Rackman had already passed away.
On the day of Rackman's death, her mobile phone records showed that a delivery of caffeine tablets had arrived, but no caffeine tablets or packaging were found at the scene. Toxicology analysis of her postmortem blood and stomach contents revealed a lethal concentration of caffeine, far higher than what could be achieved through regular coffee consumption.
Dimitri Gerostamoulos and Narendra Gunja, professors at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, analyzed that a caffeine overdose can be life-threatening within eight hours, and that if Rackman had been transported to the hospital early, her overdose could have been identified and appropriate treatment provided.
Coroner Fitzgerald strongly criticized Ambulance Victoria, stating that "the wait time for the ambulance was unacceptable." On the night of Rackman’s death, more than 80% of all ambulances were waiting (ramping) outside major hospital emergency departments, making it impossible to respond to emergency calls.
After an internal review, Ambulance Victoria began working on system improvements and is cooperating with the Department of Health to implement measures to reduce ramping outside hospital emergency rooms. Although Victoria’s target is to transfer 90% of patients to emergency departments within 40 minutes of arrival, the most recent overall average was only 69.6%. As of March, the median wait time was 26 minutes. The Australian government also required each hospital to reduce offload (the time it takes for ambulances to transfer patients to emergency departments after arrival) times by 4% by the end of June.
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