Doctor reveals hellish scene as he battled to save man who overdosed at festival

A doctor who battled to save the life of a festival-goer has spoken about the man’s horrifying final moments after he overdosed.

Alex Ross-King, who died after the FOMO music festival. An inquest has begun into the suspected drug-related deaths of six young people. Picture: Facebook

A doctor who treated two young people who died due to MDMA overdoses at a Sydney music festival has told a court of the frantic moment they were brought into the medical tent.

Dr Andrew Beshara told NSW’s Coroner’s Court he was contracted to provide medical services at the Defqon.1 festival in September, but had “limited experience in providing critical care”.

He said he was the junior of just two doctors in the tent where Diana Nguyen, 18, and Joseph Pham, 23, were taken after suspected overdoses. The festival was attended by more than 30,000 people.

He told the court the medical team was “extremely busy” on the hot and dusty September day and he was constantly dealing with cases of asthma attacks and dehydration.

The court heard about 7.30pm Mr Pham was brought to the tent, but the doctor said he was already treating a patient for MDMA-induced psychosis and another for asthma.

Mr Pham was non-responsive and the medical team was unable to find out what he had ingested.

Joseph Pham died at the Defqon.1 Festival in Penrith.

Diana Nguyen also died from a suspected overdose at the Defqon.1 festival. Picture: Instagram

Dr Beshara told the court he suggested an ambulance be called almost straight away, but between 10-15 minutes later Ms Nguyen was brought in.

He told the court he said: “We need to get his guy (Mr Pham) to the Emergency Department (at hospital) straight away.”

However the ambulance didn’t arrive until over an hour later, by which time Mr Pham had suffered a cardiac arrest in the tent.

Dr Beshara said he carried out CPR on Mr Pham — who was also given an adrenaline.

He said he loudly and repeatedly requested an ambulance which eventually arrive at 8.35pm — taking Mr Pham to Nepean Hospital where he died.

Shortly after Mr Pham was brought into the festival’s medical tent, the more senior doctor was attending to Ms Nguyen while Dr Beshara tended to Mr Pham who had briefly become stable.

However, Mr Pham needed intubation to give him oxygen in case he suddenly deteriorated and Dr Beshara said he had no experience in administering the tube alone.

To make matters worse, Mr Pham’s lockjaw made it extremely difficult.

“His jaw was essentially wired shut and his arms and legs were tensed up,” he said.

Dr Beshara said he asked why the ambulance took so long, but he has been given no explanation.

He said he wouldn’t be comfortable doing such a major event with Event Medical Services again, adding “there should have been a lot more staff on”.

He suggested having four doctors in the medical tent would have made dealing with so many medical issues “more comfortable”.

Video still of Callum Brosnan dancing at Knockout Games at Sydney Olympic Park shortly before he died of an overdose. Picture: Facebook

The court also heard from police officer Jennifer Clissold who was at Nepean Hospital on the night the two festivalgoers died.

Ms Clissold said she saw text messages on Ms Nguyen’s phone from her fiance and friends, urging her to stay safe.

She also told the court she saw earlier texts which indicated she was buying pills from her mate.

A friend of Mr Pham’s, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court he had been picked up by the 23-year-old and his brother on the day of the festival.

He said Mr Pham showed him a black bumbag and he knew there were MDMA pills inside, because his facial expression gave it away and “everyone takes them at these type of events”.

They saw drug dogs when entering the festival and saw cops busting festivalgoers, but added that the “majority” just walked through.

He said Mr Pham told him later in the day that he had taken three or four pills, and said he appeared to be “happy, energetic and dancing”.

“It did shock me,” he said. “It seemed like a lot.”

He said that some in his group of mates only take drugs at music events and often take two or three because one just starts to “wear off”.

Joshua Tam died after taking MDMA at Lost Paradise. Picture: Supplied

Hoang Tran died after attending the Knockout Circuz festival at Homebush. Picture: AAP

The evidence was given as part of the second day of a two-week inquest into the deaths of six young Australians at NSW music festivals.

The inquest is examining the deaths of Diana Nguyen, 18, Joseph Pham, 23, Callum Brosnan, 19, Josh Tam, 22, Alexandra Ross-King, 19, and Hoang Tran, 18, who all died due to drug overdoses over two festival seasons.

On the first day of the inquest, the court heard how Ms Ross-King became unwell after taking three MDMA pills at Sydney’s FOMO music festival in January.

When her bus arrived at the event, Ms Ross-King told her friends she was worried about being caught with MDMA pills by police and took three in one go.

Alex Ross-King who died at a Sydney music festival.

The inquest also head from Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia director Paul Dillon who said told the court he has spoken to tens of thousands of young people in Australia about MDMA use.

He said it’s often like “banging your head against a brick wall” because they receive so many “mixed messages” about the drug and its dangers.

When asked whether the five deaths over the past festival season had any impact on the way young people see MDMA in Australia, he said many had already made their mind up that the drug was safe.

“Some of the things I’ve heard, it makes your toes crawl,” Mr Dillon said.

He said the perception that the drug is safe is “now getting really scary” as increasingly younger people in Australia take two or three caps in one go -- a form of ingestion known as “double or triple dropping”.

Mr Dillon told the court that this is often because people’s MDMA tolerance increases rapidly after the first time you take it, meaning many young people are either using multiple types of drugs at once or taking increasing amounts of MDMA on nights out.

He added there is a “mind-blowing” amount of cocaine being used by Aussie schoolkids, particularly in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Mr Dillon told the court Australia is “flying blind” when it comes to illicit drug laws.

He told the court that when he started work in drug research over 25 years ago, Australia was seen as a world leader in harm minimisation measures.

“But now other countries have overtaken us,” he said, pointing to countries like the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands. “We seem to have gone the other way and I don’t see any evidence to suggest that it has worked.”

He suggested Australia needs to deliver simple messages about MDMA in a culturally appropriate way that resonate with young people, instead of heavy-handed scare stories.

Mr Dillon said the NSW Police tactic of creating a “big wall of blue” outside music events with sniffer dogs is turning a generation of young people against the police.

“There’s a fear about going to a dance event that there wasn’t before, and that’s leading to young people taking greater risks, such as taking two or three caps before they go in,” he said.

The inquest will run for two weeks with further hearings in September.