‘Rabbit hole’: Piles of reports mounting in death of 21yo after Covid-19 vaccine, coroner says
A 21-year-old university student died weeks after receiving a Covid-19 booster. The coroner has now signalled the future of the case.
The death of a woman in her 20s after she received a Covid-19 vaccine could progress to a full coronial inquest.
Coroner Catherine Fitzgerald told the involved parties that she would tighten the reins on expert reports being filed to the court, as mountains of medical information piled up.
Natalie Boyce, 21, died in March 2022 at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, five weeks after receiving a Moderna vaccine booster.
At a mention hearing in court on Wednesday, Moderna Australia lawyer Jesse Rudd said an expert they had been working with required further medical information.
The professor had requested information about symptoms observed by a rheumatologist who saw Ms Boyce for her lupus in 2018.
Ms Fitzgerald allowed Moderna’s request but said she would be reluctant to chase further such material going forward, telling lawyers “these sorts of requests will be scrutinised”.
“There’s lots of paper,” the coroner said of the mounting material filed for the case.
Ms Fitzgerald was hesitant to obtain more information and reports “when we already have so many materials”, describing the situation as “chasing the rabbit down this hole”.
“If this continues on the current trajectory, this could lead to an inquest,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
Lawyers for Ms Boyce’s family opposed Moderna’s request on the grounds the doctor saw the young woman for lupus four years before she died.
“The significance of lupus is addressed in all the reports,” Mr Rudd said.
Lawyers for Mulgrave Private Hospital were also granted an application to be excused as an interested party.
Nurses at the hospital were employed staff but the doctors were private contractors, lawyer Sarah Faraone said.
Lawyer for the Boyce family, Shannon Finnegan, opposed the hospital’s request.
“My client objects to Mulgrave on the basis it was the triage process that was so slow,” Ms Finnegan said.
Ms Fitzgerald said the hospital’s actions “would be looked at” but excused the hospital as an interested party.
Ms Boyce’s GP had also been excused as an interested party in the previous months, the court was told.
Ms Boyce was studying at Deakin University. She spent the last three weeks of her life unconscious. Her death certificate lists myocardial infarction with subacute myocarditis as the cause.
When she was 15, Ms Boyce was diagnosed with an uncommon blood clotting disorder that affects about one-in-2000 people.
Ms Boyce’s mother, Deborah Hamilton, previously told a parliamentary inquiry that she believed her daughter would be alive if she had not received the Covid-19 vaccine booster.
“Had we known that there were risks there would have been no way that I would have allowed Natalie to receive another vaccine and I know that she would not have had it either,” Ms Hamilton told MPs in Canberra in 2023.
The day after getting the Moderna booster, Ms Boyce fainted, had a fever, stomach pain and vomiting. Her condition deteriorated over trips to doctors and several different hospitals.
Ms Hamilton has blamed both the vaccine mandates and “medical negligence” from Victoria’s health system.
Ms Boyce was encouraged by her part-time employer to get vaccinated and required a vaccination to go to the university campus.
Parties represented in court on Wednesday were Triple Zero Victoria, Moderna, Ms Hamilton, Monash Health, Mulgrave Private Hospital, Alfred Health and Eastern Health.
The matter will be back before the Coroner’s Court for another mention hearing in October.