The death of a homeless Auckland man from synthetics could have been avoided if his friends helped him, according to the coroner.
Erin 'Charlie' Patrick Kidwell was 40 when he died in 2017. The coroner's investigation into his death was only released today.
It found Kidwell had all of the major risk factors leading to death from synthetic cannabis.
"The most at-risk group are male (94% of deaths), Māori (62%), aged 40 or older (55%), being treated for mental health illnesses (60%) and medical conditions (73%) usually including a heart related illness (54%) as well as homelessness (42%)," Coroner Tania Tetitaha says.
All of those factors applied to Kidwell.
When he died, Kidwell was drinking and hanging out with several of his friends and one of his former partners.
After smoking synthetic cannabis at around 3am, he collapsed on the floor — part of an "expected pattern" of behaviour, his friend says.
Four hours later, his friend and their partner checked on him and found him face-down in his own vomit. They left him there, thinking he was asleep.
Thirty minutes later, he was still in the same place and they couldn't wake him up or find a pulse.
Kidwell was pronounced dead by emergency services at the scene.
Tetitaha says Kidwell's death could have been prevented.
"I am dumbstruck by the lack of action taken to assist Mr Kidwell by others when first found on the floor," she wrote in the report.
"Synthetic cannabis users such as Mr Kidwell should not be left unaided if found unconscious and/or vomiting on the floor. Hospitalisation could have prevented this death."
His cause of death was ruled to be synthetic cannabinoid toxicity.
Tetitaha says Kidwell had a "turbulent life" before his death, having spent time in prison and having multiple charges against him.
As well as using synthetics, he drank alcohol, used cannabis and used methamphetamine before his death.
"He also told his GP he had never been employed and was frequently known to be without accommodation."
He suffered from heart disease and kidney failure before his death, but wasn't able to keep or store his prescribed medication while homeless, Tetitaha says.
She says further research should be done into the link between homelessness and synthetics deaths "to prevent further deaths such as Mr Kidwell's".
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