A disability support provider faces a $1.8 million (US$1.18 million) fine over the death of a young Indigenous woman who was severely burnt when poorly-trained carers gave her a bath.
Kyah Lucas suffered burns to 35 percent of her body when she was bathed at her home in Orange, in central west NSW, by two workers from National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provider LiveBetter on Feb. 2, 2022.
She died in a Sydney hospital five days later.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission sued the company for breaching standards designed to protect people with disabilities from harm, alleging its staff training and risk assessments were inadequate.
LiveBetter, a large not-for-profit operating in regional NSW and Queensland, has admitted 17 violations, a Federal Court hearing was told on March 26.
Barrister Amy Munro, representing the commission, said a proposed penalty of $1.8 million was agreed during court mediation.
The maximum penalty available is more than $250,000 (US$163,552) for each breach, or a total of $4.4 million (US$2.88 million).
“Had the support workers been relevantly trained or assessed, it may have been that the ... bathing incident did not occur,” Ms. Munro told the Sydney hearing.
Ms. Lucas was non-verbal with thin skin, conditions which left her vulnerable to temperature and unable to communicate pain.
One of her carers ran a bath at Ms. Lucas’s family’s home on February 2 and checked the water with her hand, believing it was “fine”, according to an agreed statement of facts before the court.
The support workers realised the bath was too hot when Ms. Lucas began to move and vocalise in an unusual way.
Her skin was peeling when she was removed from the steaming bath and a control panel showed the water temperature was 60C, rather than the usual maximum setting of 42C.
The court was told seven LiveBetter workers who looked after Ms. Lucas from April 2021 had limited formal training and learnt “on the job.”
They either fully or partially completed online training modules, which did not cover the appropriate temperature for bath water or how to properly check it.
The training assessment was limited to an online quiz, the court was told.
David Lloyd SC, representing LiveBetter, said the workers were not reckless and the company’s failures were down to inadequate training, rather than a total lack of it.
LiveBetter has since introduced training and protocols around bathing, including the use of a thermometer.
Mr. Lloyd apologised to Ms. Lucas’s family, saying LiveBetter co-operated with police and the commission to ensure the incident was never repeated.
“No one from LiveBetter went to work at Ms. Lucas’s home .... intending any harm, the LiveBetter employees were there to care for Ms. Lucas,” Mr. Lloyd said.
“But through the failures, which LiveBetter accepts, the result contributed to the tragic death of Ms. Lucas and LiveBetter apologises for its role in that.”
Justice Elizabeth Raper will hand down a judgment at a later date.
