‘We’re living a complete nightmare’: Melbourne family share torment over death of teen son George Diamond
The grieving family of teen George Diamond have shared their anguish over the failure of health professionals in saving their son, failing to order scans for a concussion that proved to be fatal.
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For almost six years, the Diamond family has felt like they have been in a boxing ring of their own as they fought for justice for their eldest son.
Vic and Shayla Diamond’s fit and healthy 18-year-old son George died four months after suffering a series of blows to his head during a sparring session at Sting Gym in Cranbourne West on October 25, 2018.
Their fight began in the days after that bout with two visits to the Pearcedale Medical Centre within a week to try and get answers to why he was suffering headaches, vomiting and dizziness.
His symptoms were dismissed as concussion and he was told to take painkillers without even a suggestion to do an MRI or CT scan.
When the apprentice carpenter hadn’t improved after 11 days, his father took him to the emergency ward at Frankston Hospital and begged for a scan of his son’s brain, only to be sent away and told he was being overprotective.
But George had a brain bleed, and on February 18, 2019, he collapsed and never regained consciousness.
If a scan had been done, the Pearcedale teenager would still be alive.
“It’s been completely hell for five years and seven months,” Shayla, 48, told the Herald Sun.
“We’re living a complete nightmare that we lost our son because the gym didn’t call an ambulance (on October 25, 2018) and the doctor didn’t do a scan.
“A scan is 10 minutes. We lost our son for 10 minutes. The professionals at the inquest said had George done that scan, he would be with us today and living a happy life. That’s a hard thing to grasp.”
Their dogged fight continued after George’s death as they were initially knocked back for a public inquest, sparking them to launch an appeal at the Supreme Court.
They also wrote a heartfelt letter to the state’s top coroner John Cain, resulting in their wish for a coronial inquiry to be granted.
“We’ve been in fog — we’ve been fighting, fighting and fighting,” Vic, 53, said.
The emotional and physical toll on the couple and their four other children — Perry, now 22, Eva, 20, Christian, 19, and Isaiah, 14 — has been profound.
“I had a heart attack because of all the stress,” Shayla said.
Vic added: “We were a mess. I was ready to jump in the car and find the nearest tree. That’s where I got to.”
But the fight became worth it, they said, after a litany of “missed opportunities” by medical professionals and failures by the gym were exposed during the inquest.
Judge Cain last month found Dr Yigal Reuben, a specialist emergency physician at Peninsula Health who treated George at Frankston Hospital on November 5, 2018, “should have ordered a CT scan”.
“Had a CT scan been undertaken … it is more likely than not it would have revealed that George had a subdural haematoma,” Judge Cain said.
“I find that this was a missed opportunity to prevent George’s death.”
Judge Cain was also critical of Pejman Hajbabaie, a General Practitioner at the Pearcedale clinic who George saw on October 31, 2018 and again on January 15, 2019 when he cleared him to return to combat sports.
He concluded Dr Hajbabaie’s note-keeping of the appointments “fell well below the standard that could be reasonably expected of proper GP practice”.
He also found Dr Hajbabaie should not have signed a form clearing George to return to boxing without doing thorough medical checks.
“The findings are vindicating, but they also hurt because it tells you that our son’s life could have been saved here,” Vic said.
“That’s something that we have to live with for the rest of our lives.”
The doting parents warned others to “never give up” and “trust your gut feeling” when it comes to your kids’ health.
“One of the regrets that we have is that we should have taken George to a fourth medical professional,” Vic said.
“You go to the doctor because you are unwell and need help. No one knows their children more than their parents. These doctors didn’t show basic care.”
The family don’t want their son remembered as a boxer, saying that was not who he was.
He had only joined the gym to stay fit in July 2018, and started boxing there a month before he got the first concussion.
“George was not a fighter. He was a very caring person — he loved life,” his mother said.
“He helped so many people, especially with mental health, and still five years and seven months on, we have people messaging us saying ‘thanks to your son, I have a family now and a job that I have always wanted to be in’.”
Vic added: “He was only here for 18 years, but he did so much good. He would do anything to put a smile on someone’s face, even if it made him look silly.”
The fact some 400 people attended his funeral and 271 of them got memorial tattoos depicting a small diamond with George’s initials, GD, showed how much he was loved.
“That makes me so proud of the son we raised,” Shayla said.
The family have also set up The George Diamond Project where they hand make beanies and donate them to the homeless and others in need.
“The only part of his body that was broken was his brain, and beanies keep the head warm, so it’s just amazing to be able to honour him in that way,” his mother said.
In its first year, 144 beanies, which have been called Zoungi as that was George’s nickname since he was a baby, have been donated.
The family have also named their rural Pearcedale property in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs George Diamond Estate in honour of their son.
“We honour him every day. He’s never gone from our mind,” Shayla said.
The next fight for the family is civil action against the gym, Dr Hajbabaie and Peninsula Health.
The inquest zeroed in on George’s boxing trainer and co-owner of Sting Gym John Paule, a two-time national champion and Victorian champion who has been a registered boxing trainer with the Victorian Amateur Boxing League (VABL) for more than 12 years.
The court heard Mr Paule knew George was suffering from a concussion and suspended his membership for two months from November 16.
He pulled him out of an upcoming boxing exhibition, telling him he didn’t want him to “do anymore damage”.
But within weeks, and without medical clearance, text messages showed Mr Paule encouraging George to attend a sparring contest at Doveton Boxing Club on December 11, with videos showing George competing on that day while Mr Paule watched on.
“How can this gym suspend someone’s membership for 60 days, then only half way through get him back in the ring?” George’s father asked.
It was also revealed in court George had returned to regular training, with Mr Paule telling the inquest he was doing “just bag work, no sparring” in the month before his suspension was over.
He stepped up his training and returned to the ring after Dr Hajbabaie gave him clearance in mid-January.
George’s last moments on February 18 were spent at the gym, where CCTV captured him wrapping his hands and putting on a black head and face protector, fastened with a velcro flap, before entering the ring at 6.35pm for a 16-minute bout.
At 6.51pm, he left the ring and moved towards the weights area, but his legs appeared to be shaking and he sat down heavily on a bench.
A minute later he got up and went to exit the gym into the carpark, but stumbled and collapsed to the ground in the doorway.
An ambulance arrived at 7.04pm and George was taken to The Alfred hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
Despite the efforts of surgeons, he was pronounced brain dead the following day and his life support was switched off.
Shayla said they will never give up fighting.
“We just don’t want this to happen to another family,” she said.
Sting Gym did not respond to requests for comment.
Originally published as ‘We’re living a complete nightmare’: Melbourne family share torment over death of teen son George Diamond
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