Woman survives diabetic coma and heart attack after doctor replaces insulin with Ozempic

A Queensland woman is seeking justice after a Warwick GP took her off insulin, providing her with new drugs including a high dose of Ozempic, causing her to fall into life-threatening diabetic coma and suffer a heart attack.

Heather Shute had suffered from type 2 diabetes and used insulin for about 30 years before the Warwick GP switched her diabetes medication for Ozempic suddenly, without guidance from a treating endocrinologist and without tapering her previous medication and slowly increasing the Ozempic.

Instead, the doctor took her off insulin which Ms Shute was hesitant to do, and gave her a high dose of Ozempic at a level which made her feel very unwell with nausea and vomiting. When she returned to him feeling unwell the next day and the day after, he dismissed her twice and asked her to leave the clinic.

“He thought Ozempic was the drug of all drugs. He prescribed two other drugs (Metformin and Jardiance) and did not listen to me when I told him Metformin had previously made me unwell. At the time I trusted what he advised because he was supposed to know what he was doing,” Ms Shute said.

“That morning, my daughter spoke to me on the phone and said I didn’t sound right so she drove from the Gold Coast to be with me. I went back to the same GP and he saw me reluctantly. He tapped me on the arm and said go home and didn’t even check my blood pressure. The next day, I went back again. The receptionist asked what did he do to you this morning and I said nothing. She said I’m ringing an ambulance. When they picked me up, I didn’t know what had happened.

“When I regained consciousness, my daughter and some doctors at Warwick Hospital were there explaining what happened and I was shocked that he’d just about killed me. I was very weak and didn’t know if I was going to make it.”

Ms Shute required a team of diabetes and heart specialists at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane to get her life back on track.

“They saved my life. The cardiac team told me what had happened had damaged my heart so badly. I have heart failure now and I’m on medication. I could have had stents put in but I was too fragile to have surgery then. I’ve had four other heart attacks since August 2021. It’s petrifying for my daughter,” she said.

The doctor has been investigated by Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and has had conditions placed on his registration.

Slater and Gordon Medical Law Associate Karen Jarman said the health regulator had found the doctor’s after care was inadequate, with no assessment of ketone levels, no diabetic educator involvement and no escalation of care when Heather presented with worsening symptoms.

“It’s distressing that a doctor could show such carelessness in ignoring a patient with diabetes who presented twice stating they were so unwell after taking new medication. His decision to completely remove insulin altogether and replace her treatment with new drugs all at once not only showed poor judgement but breached the duty of care doctors are required to provide for patients in failing to consult treating specialists and in failing to listen to the patient,” Ms Jarman said.

“GPs are expected to have basic and adequate knowledge of diabetes treatment plans and protocols. Ozempic should have been introduced in a more measured way to protect the patient from risks.”

In September 2021, Ms Shute filed a complaint with The Office of the Health Ombudsman who shared her report with AHPRA who lodged its own investigation. AHPRA found that the doctor breached Diabetes Australia’s guidelines which state that escalation of treatment should have involved adding on second or third line medication, not ceasing both of her insulin drugs.

The AHPRA decision said although the doctor made a referral to Heather’s endocrinologist, that this should have occurred prior to a significant change in her medicine regimen. His performance was inconsistent with the requirements of the Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia and not in keeping with diabetes management best practice.

On 27 February 2023, the doctor had conditions place against his medical registration, including that he undertake education to ensure he embeds requirements for specialist colleague consultation and patient diabetes best practice into his practice.

The AHPRA Board further proposed to impose mentoring conditions to ensure the doctor “understands his role within a diabetes treatment team, listens to the patients’ needs and is able to show insight and reflect on his performance and decision making”.

Media Contact: Anna Chisholm 0437 801 093