Drew was in crisis when he was hit by a train. His family want answers

Staring down at the family photos scattered across her kitchen table, Helen Dowsley tries to pinpoint a moment she might have saved her son.

Perhaps it was when his daycare teacher noticed he preferred playing with his toy trucks rather than with other children. Perhaps she could have convinced her teenage son, about to grow into his 188-centimetre frame, to stay in school for another year or two. Instead, he followed his father into the “rough and tough” earthworks industry, where men drank like fish and thought that seeing a psychologist would mean they’d never get work again.

“That’s what he lived and breathed since he was a little boy,” Helen said.

He will never do that work again. Not because he got help for his mental health problems but because when he needed it, he was turned away.

Drew was struck by a train at Woy Woy on the Central Coast after he was allowed to leave Gosford Hospital’s emergency department in what his family and lawyers say was an obvious state of psychosis. He survived but suffered brain damage, severe spinal injuries, and lost most of one hand.

“I wish that I’d convinced him to see a psychiatrist to put him on some drugs to slow his brain down, to stop telling himself that he was a piece of shit, that he wasn’t good at anything,” Dowsley told the Sun-Herald at her home in the Southern Highlands.

Five months later, she is urging NSW Premier Chris Minns to launch an inquiry into the hospital’s actions.

Drew’s family is speaking out for the first time against a system the state’s mental health minister has conceded is underfunded and struggling – even before the mass resignation of more than half of its psychiatric workforce.

“This didn’t just happen to Drew; it happens to thousands of vulnerable Australians seeking help every year,” she said. “My son should not be sitting in a wheelchair. What happened on September 16 is going to stay with him for the rest of his life.”

Helen and Drew Dowsley look at old family photos at home in Braemar, NSW.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

‘He asked for help … and they said no’

Drew Dowsley sought help for his worsening mental health in the months leading up to his incident, hospital records acquired by the family and seen by the Herald show.

Records from March show he was prescribed antidepressants by a visiting psychiatrist at Rockhampton Hospital in Queensland, where he was working and living with his father.

He stopped taking that medication in July when his work ended and the home was sold, his family said.

Living out of the back of his ute, Dowsley told his mother he was coming back to NSW for a mining job in the Hunter Valley. “But he just wasn’t sounding good,” she said.

By September, he was on the Central Coast. At 11am on September 15, he entered Gosford emergency department, telling staff he was “feeling like people are following him”, had “passing thoughts of suicide”, and had not taken his anxiety and depression medication for months.

Despite doctors acknowledging he was in an altered mental state, Dowsley was discharged around 7pm.

Helen with an X-ray showing some of Drew’s injuries.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The next morning, he was found in a critical condition near tracks in Woy Woy, having been hit by a train about midnight. He was airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital, where he endured hours of life-saving operations – the first of what will be a lifetime of painful surgeries.

“When you’re in psychosis, you run the other way. But he asked for help. That is the hardest thing,” Helen said. “He asked for help … and they said no.”

A spokesperson for Central Coast Local Health District said the hospital recently conducted a comprehensive review and would be in contact with the Dowsley family “to further discuss his care and address any additional questions”.

‘A preventable catastrophe’

Dowsley’s lawyer Stewart Levitt said the circumstances of his client’s case were remarkably similar to those of Bondi Junction attack perpetrator Joel Cauchi. Both men had also recently left Queensland for NSW, were homeless, and were off their medication.

“This was a preventable catastrophe,” said Levitt, a senior human rights solicitor based in Sydney. “The fact that he was the only person who suffered as a result of these events is a small mercy in a very catastrophic situation.”

Premier Chris Minns did not respond to a request for comment. Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson said the government “acknowledge the Dowsley family’s call for timely and appropriate care”.

“Drew Dowsley’s story is heartbreaking. I am requesting a full briefing on this matter,” Jackson said.

Jackson said none of the staff specialist psychiatrists involved in this year’s unprecedented mass resignation were working on the Central Coast.

A state-funded “safe haven” centre in Gosford offered an alternative to emergency departments for those in distress, Jackson said, with another set to open in Wyong this year.

If you or someone you know need support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. SANE phone and digital support services can be accessed at sane.org. In the event of an emergency, dial Triple Zero (000).

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