Ambulance Tasmania paramedic Damian Crump’s lengthy coronial inquest begins

The mother of a paramedic who died by self-harm after accessing Ambulance Tasmania’s drug stores says she hopes her son’s death was not in vain. FOLLOW LIVE >>

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UPDATE, 2.15PM:

THE mother of a paramedic who died by self-harm after accessing Ambulance Tasmania’s drug stores says she hopes her son’s death was not in vain.

Alanah Crump gave evidence in Hobart on Monday, the first day of a coronial inquest into the December 2016 death of 36-year-old Damian Michael Crump.

“Hopefully his death is not going to be in vain — that we’ll see changes in the ambulance service,” she said.

“That’s what I want to see out of this inquest, that no other mother has to be told she’s lost a daughter or son.

Damian’s mother Alanah Crump leaving the Magistrate’s court. Picture: Eddie Safarik

“There’s got to be more duty of care for their people in the service. They’re always out on the road helping us, and I think we need to take more duty of care to them.”

Mrs Crump said her son, who had battled depression for years, lived for his job with Ambulance Tasmania.

She said the way her son was managed on the day of his death, when he was allegedly sprung on CCTV taking drugs from the Glenorchy store by a manager who told him to wait while she got assistance, should “never have happened”.

“He raced back in and got exactly what he knew he needed. The thing running through his mind would have been ‘I’m going to lose my job’ and that would have been devastating to him,” she said.

“You take them with you, don’t leave them, and if that had happened, Damian would still be with us.”

Also on Monday, investigating police officer Sergeant Terry McCulloch gave evidence before Coroner Olivia McTaggart.

He said he discovered what appeared to be hundreds of unverified medication entries over a 12-month period, meaning staff could have taken drugs from the stores “without scrutiny”.

“That figure is disturbing to me, that it wasn’t picked up earlier than it had been,” he said.

The inquest continues.

EARLIER:

THE tragic death of a paramedic after he allegedly took pharmaceuticals from the Ambulance Tasmania drug stores has come under the microscope at a Hobart inquest.

Damian Crump, 36, died in December 2016 as a result of self-harm.

A two-and-a-half week inquest into his death, and Ambulance Tasmania’s management of its drug stores at Glenorchy and Mornington, began today.

Ambulance Tasmania paramedic Damian Crump.

Coroner Olivia McTaggart heard Mr Crump had a suicide plan that he kept on his phone, and that his death was carried out largely in accordance with that plan.

The inquest heard on the day of his death, he was allegedly seen on CCTV by Ambulance Tasmania’s acting regional duty manager taking medication from the Glenorchy store.

When she confronted him, the inquest heard, Mr Crump handed over medication and said “if you call police, you’ll kill me” before saying he was going home to kill himself.

The inquest will examine the circumstances surrounding Mr Crump’s death, Ambulance Tasmania’s response in reporting missing drugs from its stores, systems for storage of drugs and paraphernalia and the alleged misuse of drugs by Mr Crump and other employees.

It will also examine AT’s established mental health systems and the capacity of supervisors to identify and assist employees with mental health issues.

More to come …

EARLIER: A CORONIAL inquest into the death of an Ambulance Tasmania paramedic, including what the agency knew about the theft and misuse of prescription medication from their drug stores, starts today.

It was ruled last month that a public inquest would be held following a “lengthy and thorough” investigation into the death of Damian Michael Crump.

An intensive care paramedic, Mr Crump died in 2016.

The inquest, before Coroner Olivia McTaggart, is expected to run for more than two weeks.

In her reasons, Ms McTaggart said the evidence from the investigation “strongly indicates” that Mr Crump took his own life after he stole drugs from the agency’s drugstore in Hobart.

The inquest will examine Mr Crump’s mental health conditions and prescription drug abuse, the adequacy of his supervision, and his ability to access drugs without authorisation.

The inquest is expected to go for two-and-a-half weeks. Picture: Facebook

It is suspected Mr Crump took drugs from ambulance stations before his death. Picture: Facebook

It will consider the circumstances of unauthorised taking of morphine and other drugs from southern Tasmanian ambulance stations in about September 2016.

Other matters set to be examined include the response to medication stolen from Ambulance Tasmania drug stores by two separate employees in 2012 and 2014.

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