The inquest into the death of Elizabeth Struhs heard on Thursday that, as she recovered from a 2019 diabetic emergency, an inter-agency Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) team held meetings about her case. A Child Safety officer testified she had not spoken with the paediatrician who warned Elizabeth could fall seriously ill within hours if her mother interfered with her insulin, but was aware of a colleague's notes at the time of the August meeting.
The paediatrician had told Queensland's Child Safety Department: "Elizabeth is at extremely high risk of harm in a household where mum has any responsibility of care as she does not believe in medication and refuses to use it. She can be close to death again in the future."
After Elizabeth was transferred out of the care of that paediatrician and other Brisbane-based medical staff to her local hospital on 12 August, they could not attend SCAN meetings without an invitation from Child Safety, the inquest was told.
Elizabeth had been airlifted to a Brisbane hospital in July 2019 after diabetic ketoacidosis left her in a coma and nearly killed her. The inquest also heard that doctors were so concerned about the religious beliefs of her mother, Kerrie Struhs, that they recommended she be subjected to an involuntary mental health assessment, because she delusionally believed her daughter would be healed from type 1 diabetes. Child safety officers nonetheless decided to return Elizabeth home to her mother's care in 2019, over the objections of Brisbane-based doctors.
Elizabeth died on 7 January 2022 at her home in Rangeville, Toowoomba, after her insulin was stopped by her father, Jason Struhs, who had joined the family's religious sect, known as "the Saints", in 2021. Her parents, brother and 11 other members of the group prayed around her while she lay unconscious on the living room floor for days.
Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard heard evidence from three child safety officers involved in Elizabeth's case on Thursday.