The death of a young woman in her 20s after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine could lead to a full forensic investigation.
Coroner Catherine Fitzgerald told the parties involved she would restrict expert reports being submitted to the court as mountains of medical information pile up.
Natalie Boyce, 21, died in March 2022 at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, five weeks after receiving a booster dose of the Moderna vaccine.
At a court hearing on Wednesday, Moderna Australia’s lawyer Jesse Rudd said an expert they had been working with needed more medical information.
The professor had requested information about symptoms observed by a rheumatologist who saw Ms Boyce for her lupus in 2018.
Ms. Fitzgerald agreed to Moderna’s request but said she would be reluctant to pursue such material in the future, telling lawyers that “these types of requests will be reviewed.”
“There is a lot of paper,” the coroner said of the mounting material archived for the case.
Ms Fitzgerald was reluctant to seek further information and reports “when we already have so much material”, describing the situation as “chasing a rabbit down this rabbit hole”.
Natalie Boyce died in March 2022 after receiving a booster dose of the Moderna vaccine
“If this continues on its current trajectory, it could trigger an investigation,” Fitzgerald said.
Lawyers for Boyce’s family opposed Moderna’s request, arguing that the doctor had seen the young woman for lupus four years before she died.
“The importance of lupus is addressed in all the reports,” Rudd said.
Lawyers for Mulgrave Private Hospital were also granted an application to be excused as an interested party.
The hospital’s nurses were employed staff, but the doctors were private contractors, attorney Sarah Faraone said.
The Boyce family’s attorney, Shannon Finnegan, opposed the hospital’s request.
“My client is opposing Mulgrave because the selection process is too slow,” Finnegan said.
Natalie Boyce died of myocarditis. She spent the last three weeks of her life unconscious.
Ms Fitzgerald said the hospital’s actions “would be looked at” but excused the hospital as an interested party.
Ms Boyce’s GP had also been excused as an interested party in the previous months, the court was told.
Ms Boyce was a student at Deakin University. She spent the last three weeks of her life unconscious. Her death certificate states the cause was a myocardial infarction with subacute myocarditis.
When she was 15, Ms Boyce was diagnosed with a rare blood clotting disorder that affects about one in 2,000 people.
Boyce’s mother, Deborah Hamilton, previously told a parliamentary inquiry that she believed her daughter would be alive if she had not received the Covid-19 booster shot.
“If we had known there were risks, there is no way I would have allowed Natalie to have another vaccine and I know I wouldn’t have had it either,” Hamilton told MPs in Canberra in 2023.
Ms. Boyce fainted, had a fever, stomach pain and vomited the day after receiving her booster dose.
The day after receiving the Moderna booster dose, Boyce fainted, developed a fever, stomach pain and vomited. His condition worsened after several visits to the doctor and several hospitals.
Ms Hamilton has blamed both vaccination mandates and “medical negligence” in Victoria’s health system.
Ms. Boyce was encouraged to get vaccinated by her part-time employer and required to get vaccinated to go to campus.
Parties represented in court on Wednesday were Triple Zero Victoria, Moderna, Ms Hamilton, Monash Health, Mulgrave Private Hospital, Alfred Health and Eastern Health.
The matter will return to the Coroner’s Court for another hearing in October.
