Samaan Salah Tilmiz Elsamin, 21

Samaan, 21, had treatment-resistant schizophrenia and moderate-to-severe intellectual impairment. His disability provider repeatedly sought funding for 3:1 support, saying two carers could no longer safely manage his increasingly dangerous behaviour. The additional support was refused on the basis that his needs were regarded as related to mental illness rather than intellectual disability. The provider eventually withdrew, and he remained in hospital, where he later died; the medical cause of death could not be determined.

This is a particularly revealing example of the boundary between the NDIS and the mental health system: essential support became contested according to which system was thought responsible for paying. The coroner did not find that the NDIS refusal caused his death, and made an open finding as to cause — this case is included as evidence of institutionalisation and system-boundary problems.