It was only a small article in the middle of Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald. You could easily have missed it. For our firm though, we believe the devastating story of 11 year old Alex Raichman deserves a much higher exposure. The care provided to this young boy and his family was, simply, not good enough. As Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame stated, this was a “meaningless and completely preventable tragedy”.
It serves as an example of how a failure to provide reasonable care can have terrible consequences. It also shows the value of the coronial inquest in our justice system in exposing flaws in policies and procedures.
In 2018, Alex Raichmann’s family were due to travel interstate. Alex, who had global developmental delay, was placed by his loving parents into temporary respite care with a facility in the south of Sydney, operated by Civic Disability Services (‘Civic’).
Alex’s mother knew her son’s behavioural patterns. She warned the service that her son was at high risk of escaping from the facility. She urged them to place locks on their windows. They did not.
At about 6.45 pm, Alex escaped through an ensuite window and climbed an inadequate fence, running down to the railway station. At 7.25 pm he was hit by a train. Alex lost his life and his family their son.
The Deputy State Coroner stated that Alex had “every right to a long, meaningful and joyful life”. Several recommendations were made, including that Civic not provide substitute respite care for people under the age of 16.
A separate shocking event that was also the subject of the inquest involved 8 year old, Riley Shortland and his temporary career, 28 year Rachel Martin. Rachel worked for the agency SNAP. Travelling by car on the M1 near Newcastle in 2017, Riley, who had developmental delay, began to unbuckle his seatbelt. Rachel pulled over in the breakdown lane, but Riley managed to get out of the car first and ran into traffic. Rachel courageously tried to help Riley.
Both were fatally hit by a truck. Rachel was pregnant with her first child.
The Deputy Coroner found these were also preventable deaths. Several policy changes were recommended including the use of two people in a car when transporting a patient with one-on-one needs.
We have all witnessed the proliferation of disability care providers with the arrival of NDIS. Such providers have a responsibility to put appropriate care plans into place in return for the funding, or payment, they receive. They have an obligation to take adequate care of their clients and their families.
It disturbs us greatly to read of cost cutting measures and poorly planned services that do not adequately protect the most vulnerable in our community.
We are also concerned that this story has not attracted the media attention it deserves. Alex’s mother, in a statement to the court, said “a child’s life is not dispensable just because they are living with a disability”. We could not agree more.
If a care provider fails to implement appropriate policies and take reasonable steps to protect those in their care, and injury or loss is suffered as a result, a claim for compensation can be made. We can assist with these claims, and with legal advice and representation for coronial inquests. However, even though we are compensation lawyers, what we are passionate about is prevention and change. Families that place their trust in care agencies should not have their trust betrayed.
We sincerely hope that the Deputy Coroner’s recommendations are implemented and that disability care agencies pay heed to the stories of Alex, Riley and Rachel.
