Parents See Daughter Die And Son Is Left With Just A Picture
Sun Herald
Sunday July 16, 2000
WHEN Van and Thi Nguyen handed their life's savings and heroin-addicted daughter over to the Liverpool Rapid Detox Centre, they expected her to come out cured not dead.
In just five days, they lost their precious ``baby" 19-year-old Thi Ngoc Diem. Their 23-month-old grandson Khang had also lost his mother.
A fortnight on, the family have no answers, no money.
``We don't speak out now through revenge," Mrs Nguyen said. ``We speak out in the hope that this can never be allowed to happen again."
Mr and Mrs Nguyen tortured themselves with the knowledge of their daughter's addiction for almost two years. When Thi arrived on their doorstep in Smithfield in June saying she wanted to move back home and fight the drug, they were encouraged that, for the first time, she had made a move to help herself.
The family saw the clinic's advertisement in the local Vietnamese community newspaper and made an appointment through their doctor.
``I had been saving my money in the hope that the day would come when Thi would ask for help," said Mr Nguyen.
``But when we visited the clinic, I wasn't sure my savings were enough. The manager told us the price was $2,900, which meant we could help Thi.
``He also said we were lucky because after July and the GST, the price would go up to $7,000."
The day after signing up, mum and dad accompanied their daughter to the centre.
``Thi was in there from morning to night and when we brought her back home, she couldn't walk or move," Mr Nguyen said.
``We had to move her from one position to another on the bed because she was so restless and unable to do it herself. She was vomiting and complaining her whole body was aching.
``So we sat with her all night, loving her, massaging her joints and reassuring her she was on the mend and that she'd done a brave thing."
The following morning, the family returned to the clinic for their Friday appointment.
``We explained Thi had been vomiting and was in a lot of pain," Mr Nguyen added. ``He just injected her and we were told to come back and see a doctor three days later, on the Monday."
For Thi, the pain and feeling of being paralysed continued. For two days Mr Nguyen carried his daughter from room to room. It took him back to her childhood; temporarily, his baby was back in his arms.
By the Sunday and with no sleep, Thi's pain became unbearable. The family headed for the clinic to be greeted by Lindsay Otter, a counsellor with no medical training.
As The Sun-Herald reported last week, Mr Otter checked the files on Thi. ``We knew he wasn't the doctor but he told us that Thi's symptoms sounded like those normally associated with someone detoxing," Mr Nguyen said.
``We explained that Thi had taken all the tablets to help with sleep but she desperately needed something else. He agreed and gave us five tablets."
The tablets appeared to help Thi through to the Monday morning when her next appointment was due.
They arrived at the clinic at noon. ``I was holding on to my daughter but she was not good," Mrs Nguyen recalled, weeping.
``I asked the secretary `why is she like this, why is she so tired, she can't move?'." Another woman kept coming over and checking Thi's pulse.
``A Chinese man came up to us and then he walked off. An ambulance came about 10 minutes later."
But it was too late to save Thi. Mrs Nguyen said they were told later their daughter had died at the clinic. ``We have no doubt that had a doctor been there on that Monday, they could have done something to keep her going until the ambulance arrived.
``The doctor at Liverpool hospital told us this."
Mr and Mrs Nguyen want answers. ``I can't speak for the medicine because I know nothing about that," Mr Nguyen said, crying. ``But what I can say is, it did not look as though any proper order or procedures were ever being followed."
© 2000 Sun Herald