Key facts
- Child safety staff decided to send Elizabeth Struhs home to her parents in 2019, overriding doctors' concerns.
- Elizabeth died in January 2022 after her parents withdrew her insulin for type 1 diabetes.
- Her parents and 12 other adult sect members were convicted of manslaughter.
- Doctors had warned that Elizabeth's mother might "sabotage" her treatment if they lived together.
- A child safety officer stated that removing Elizabeth from home would be "more detrimental" than keeping her there.
- A police officer testified that child safety staff decisions were generally unchangeable.
Child safety staff were determined to send a six-year-old girl home to her parents despite doctors' concerns about her medical condition, a police officer told a coronial inquest. Elizabeth Struhs was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis and had been in a coma.
In 2019, child safety staff decided it would be "more detrimental" to not return Elizabeth to her Toowoomba home upon her discharge from hospital. This decision was made despite warnings from doctors at the Queensland children's hospital that her mother, Kerrie Struhs, might "sabotage" her long-term treatment for type 1 diabetes if they lived together.
According to minutes from a meeting involving child safety officers, specialist police, and health staff, a child safety officer noted that the hospital "is not agreeing with our assessment and have been very vocal about it." The officer added, "I feel that removing her would be more detrimental and we currently have the father stepping up."
A police officer who served as a child safety liaison for 10 years testified that once child safety staff made a decision, it was generally impossible to change their minds. He described this approach as "professional courtesy" and stated that they had to respect the department's decision-making tools.
Elizabeth died at home on January 7, 2022, after her parents withdrew the insulin she needed to survive her type 1 diabetes. Her parents were members of a religious sect known as the Saints, which did not believe in medicine and believed Elizabeth would be miraculously healed or raised from the dead. All 14 adult members of the sect, including her parents, were convicted of Elizabeth's manslaughter last year.
Jason Struhs, Elizabeth's father, was initially willing to provide insulin against his wife's wishes but stopped in 2021 after converting to her religious beliefs. Kerrie Struhs was jailed after being convicted of not providing the necessaries of life to Elizabeth following the 2019 incident.
A pediatrician specialist in child safety based at the Toowoomba hospital told the inquest she was "generally happy" with the way child safety approached the case, including returning Elizabeth home, provided the family engaged with the hospital and diabetes educator. However, two other doctors from the Brisbane Queensland Children’s Hospital expressed dissatisfaction, with one calling the approach "entirely inadequate to address the risk." One doctor mentioned longstanding poor relations between the Brisbane and Toowoomba hospitals, whose advice was ignored, though the Toowoomba doctor denied this.