It was impossible to change the mind of child safety staff after they had decided to send Elizabeth Struhs home with her parents despite some of her doctors’ concerns, a police officer has told a coronial inquest into the young girl’s death.
asserted
officer → change → death
Child safety staff decided in 2019 that it would be “more detrimental” to not return Elizabeth, aged six at the time, to her Toowoomba home upon her discharge from hospital after suffering a coma due to diabetic ketoacidosis, a Queensland coroner heard.
asserted
coroner → decide → ketoacidosis
Elizabeth died at home on 7 January 2022 after her parents withdrew the insulin she needed to survive type 1 diabetes.
asserted
she → die → diabetes
Her parents were members of a religious sect known as the Saints.
asserted
parents → know → Saints
The sect did not believe in medicine, and believed Elizabeth would be miraculously healed of her illness or raised from the dead, the inquest heard.
asserted
inquest → believe → dead
All 14 adult members of the sect were convicted of Elizabeth’s manslaughter last year, including her father, Jason Struhs, and mother, Kerrie Struhs.
asserted
members → convict → father
The coroner, Ainslie Kirkegaard, heard evidence on Monday from senior doctors at the Queensland children’s hospital who had repeatedly raised the alarm after Elizabeth was hospitalised in a 2019 incident.
asserted
Elizabeth → hear → incident
Kerrie Struhs told the authorities at the time that she didn’t believe in medicine, and had discouraged Elizabeth’s father from seeking medical assistance and to instead trust in prayer, the coroner heard.
asserted
coroner → tell → prayer
Both parents were convicted of not providing the necessaries of life to Elizabeth as a result of the incident, and Kerrie was jailed.
asserted
Kerrie → convict → incident
After Elizabeth was admitted to hospital in 2019, doctors warned that Kerrie might “sabotage” her long-term treatment for the incurable illness, which requires multiple insulin injections a day, if they lived together, the coroner heard.
But the court heard that child safety officers determined she should be returned home to the care of Jason.
uncertain
she → admit → Jason
The coroner heard evidence about a meeting held by the suspected child abuse and neglect team in which the decision was made.
asserted
decision → hear → which
It was led by child safety officers, but involved specialist police and health staff.
asserted
It → lead → police
Jason was deemed to be able to provide treatment for Elizabeth, such as insulin injections, the court heard.
asserted
court → deem → injections
According to minutes from the meeting, a child safety officer said: “The Queensland children’s hospital is not agreeing with our assessment and have been very vocal about it.
uncertain
hospital → accord → it
I feel that removing her would be more detrimental and we currently have the father stepping up.”
asserted
father → feel → her
On Tuesday, the court heard from a police officer who had attended the meeting.
asserted
who → hear → meeting
He told the court he’d served as a child safety liaison for 10 years.
asserted
he → tell → years
“I learned early on … you couldn’t change child safety’s mind once they had made their decision,” the officer told the court.
asserted
officer → learn → court
“I was never going to change their mind regardless of what I said.”
asserted
I → go → what
The officer said the attitude was not confined to a single child safety officer.
asserted
attitude → say → officer
“It was across the board … they had their own structured decision making tools that they used and we had to respect their decision.”
asserted
we → have → decision
The officer described the approach as “professional courtesy”.
asserted
officer → describe → courtesy
Jason was initially willing to provide insulin to Elizabeth – against the wishes of his wife and their other children – but ceased doing so in 2021 after converting to his wife’s religious beliefs and joining her church group, leading to the child’s death.
asserted
Jason → provide → death
A paediatrician specialist in child safety based at the Toowoomba hospital told the inquest on Tuesday that she was “generally happy” with the way child safety approached the case, including returning Elizabeth home.
asserted
safety → base → Elizabeth
According to notes taken at a meeting at the time and presented in court, the specialist said Elizabeth would be safe “as long as they are engaging with the hospital and diabetes educator”.
“If they stop showing up or engaging then it is likely we would put in a report as we would need to try and find out why.”
uncertain
we → accord → report
On Monday, two other doctors at the Queensland children’s hospital in Brisbane told the inquest that they were unhappy with the approach, which one labelled “entirely inadequate to address the risk”.
asserted
one → tell → risk
One told the coroner that there had been longstanding poor relations between the Brisbane and Toowoomba hospitals, and their advice was ignored.
asserted
advice → tell → hospitals
But the Toowoomba doctor denied the hospitals had a poor relationship.
asserted
hospitals → deny → relationship
No witnesses appearing at the inquest can be identified for legal reasons.
asserted
witnesses → appear → reasons
The inquest continues.
asserted
inquest → continue → ?
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