Doctors sought mental health check for mother before Elizabeth Struhs was returned home, inquest hears

Brisbane doctors urged child safety officers not to return 8-year-old Elizabeth Struhs to her family in 2019 and recommended her mother undergo an involuntary mental health assessment, a coronial inquest has heard.

Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard heard evidence from three child safety officers involved in Elizabeth's case, as part of an examination of events that preceded her death on 7 January 2022 at her home in Rangeville, Toowoomba. The Guardian

Elizabeth first came to the attention of Queensland's child safety department in July 2019. She was hospitalised with late-stage diabetic ketoacidosis on 17 July and was in a coma and nearly died.

The inquest heard that her mother, Kerrie Struhs, believed Elizabeth would be healed of type 1 diabetes. Kerrie Struhs objected to Elizabeth's father, Jason Struhs, driving her to hospital that month because of that belief.

Contemporaneous notes presented to the inquest recorded Kerrie Struhs stating that Elizabeth cannot keep this disease and she will be healed. The notes also recorded her stating that she had to trust in God to heal Elizabeth because God promised he would hear her, and that she would pray straight away if Elizabeth's sugar levels dropped at home.

Brisbane-based doctors repeatedly urged child safety officers not to return Elizabeth home, describing Kerrie Struhs's religious beliefs as delusional, the inquest heard. One doctor told the inquest she felt stonewalled by child safety officers over the decision.

The inquest heard that a Brisbane doctor told child safety that Kerrie Struhs required an involuntary mental health assessment, meaning an assessment conducted without her consent, and that child safety could arrange it. A child safety officer told the doctor that Kerrie Struhs would not take part in any mental health assessment if recommended because of her beliefs.

A health worker described Kerrie Struhs's actions when Elizabeth was rushed to hospital almost dead as "chilling", according to earlier reporting.

Child safety officers decided to return Elizabeth home over the doctors' objections. An officer assessed Elizabeth as safe a day after she was admitted to hospital in a coma. She was returned home into the care of her father in August 2019.

Officers developed a safety plan for Elizabeth and had her parents sign an intervention with parental agreement, a formal plan signed by the parents.

Kerrie and Jason Struhs were later convicted of failing to provide the necessities of life for delaying seeking medical help in the 2019 incident, with Kerrie Struhs jailed.

The inquest heard that Jason Struhs had been a long-term sceptic of his wife's beliefs before converting to them and joining her religious sect in 2021. The sect subscribed to an extreme form of Christianity and denied the use of medicine.

Elizabeth died four days after she was denied insulin, after her father stopped the treatment. She succumbed to what was described as a painful death.