Prominent Greek-Cypriot doctor from Adelaide, Jack Kerry, dies just three years after the coronial inquest into the overdose of his daughter and her friend.
Dr Kerry passed away on August 4, aged 87, after working as a doctor in Adelaide for more than 60 years.
The respected medical professional’s life changed when he found his daughter, Athena Kyriacou, and her friend, Luke Pike, had overdosed on heroin inside his CBD medical practice in 2016.
While the doctor’s daughter survived – after he provided her with CPR – Mr Pike was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dr Kerry was called to give evidence during a coronial inquest in 2019. He defended his actions as “paternal instinct”.
“I went straight to my daughter,” he said.
“I didn’t know whether she was going to come out of it and I didn’t know whether Luke Pike would come out of it.”
He told the coroner he found Mr Pike and his daughter, Athena, unconscious and instinctively began CPR on her.
He agreed Mr Pike was in a far worse state than his daughter but said the man had “gone past the point of no return”.
“One look at him, I thought he’d had a cardiac arrest, thought he was dead,” he said.
State Coroner Mark Johns made no criticism of Dr Kerry for reviving his daughter.
Dr Kerry had suffered the loss of his only son, Jack, to a drug overdose eight years before the incident.
In his death notice, Dr Kerry was remembered as a “loving father” to his children Jack, Athena and Christopher.
“So sadly missed by his loved ones and the wider community for which he cared for,” it read.
“In Loving Memory of his life’s work as a Doctor in Adelaide over 60 years.”
Source: The Advertiser
