04-08-2025
Inquest into death of Queensland grandmother administered lethal dose of morphine begins
A pain specialist who mistakenly injected a woman with 1,000 times the intended dose of morphine has told an inquest into her death he did not recall a nurse advising him how much the syringe contained before he administered it.
The lethal dose of 1,000 milligrams of morphine was given to 85-year-old woman Sheila Thurlow during a procedure to insert a pain pump in her spine in June 2022 at a Brisbane hospital.
On Monday, a coronial inquest into her death began, with the pain specialist who'd administered the dose giving evidence.
The court heard Dr Navid Amirabadi was the primary proceduralist on the day.
His mentor, Dr Vahid Mohabbati, had flown to Brisbane to assist him with the procedure at the North West Private Hospital, as Dr Amirabadi had been seeking endorsement as part of an optional program for practitioners who wanted to upskill.
The fully qualified pain specialist said he had never administered a spinal injection of this kind before.
He said his supervisor advised him of a last minute change in plan on the morning of the procedure to administer a deep sedation and spinal injection.
Dr Amirabadi said the 100mg of morphine he'd signed out of the drug cupboard earlier that morning was to fill the pump — not to issue the spinal injection.
He told the court he "did not think" about where the 100 micrograms of morphine for the spinal injection would be sourced, but that he assumed the anaesthetist would have access to opioids.
He denied a nurse handed him the syringe and told him it contained 100mg.
He also denied he had corrected the nurse to tell her it was not possible, as it would actually contain 100 micrograms.
Dr Amirabadi claimed Dr Mohabbati handed him an unlabelled syringe while he was in the middle of the procedure and instructed him to inject it.
He told the court he accepted the responsibility for the preparation of the procedure and care of Ms Thurlow, but he was "not in a position to object" to his supervisor.
"He said this is your spinal … 100 micrograms … I asked how much I should give, and he said all of it," he said.
"There were no steps unless purely instructed by him. Not a stitch … nothing."
On Monday, the court heard this conversation had not featured in several of Dr Amirabadi's earlier statements but was included in his latest written statement provided to the court last Wednesday — three years after the incident.
"I've had a chance to have a think about it and remember my independent recollection," he said.
"I was in such a state after the tragedy. It took months to get myself together … it will probably be with me for the rest of my life."
Dr Amirabadi said he learnt that Ms Thurlow had entered morphine toxicity once a second procedure had commenced.
"I was already halfway through the second surgery. We realised what happened ... and that step was removed from the second procedure," he said.
Ms Thurlow's husband, Raymond Thurlow, described Sheila as a "devoted wife" and "loving" mother and grandmother who "was never without a book in her hand".
"Her kindness, generosity, hospitality and sparkling sense of humour touched everyone she met," he said.
Mr Thurlow said his wife's unexpected death had left a void in the family that felt "impossible to fill".
"The distressing circumstances of her passing have left us without closure and we have struggled with shock, grief, disbelief and profound loss," he told the court.
"We hoped she would live out her years on her own terms."
The inquest continues.
