{"id":60853,"date":"2026-07-29T10:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T10:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/60853\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T10:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T10:14:25","slug":"cairns-hospital-defends-its-treatment-of-man-later-shot-by-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/60853\/","title":{"rendered":"Cairns Hospital defends its treatment of man later shot by police"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cairns Hospital’s chief executive has defended the treatment provided to a man who was shot by police hours after he was released from hospital.<\/p>\n

Police took the 28-year-old to hospital on Friday night under an emergency examination authority after he was allegedly found jumping naked on cars near a Cairns shopping centre.<\/p>\n

He was released from hospital within hours and on Saturday evening was shot by police while allegedly armed with two knives.<\/p>\n

Officers also accidentally shot a 50-year-old bystander while responding to the incident.<\/p>\n

The Queensland Police Union (QPU) has demanded any investigation into the shooting extend to the man’s earlier presentation and discharge from hospital.<\/p>\n

QPU general president Shane Prior said it took six officers to restrain the man at the shopping centre.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/p>\n

Police took the man to hospital under an emergency order the night before he was shot. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)<\/p>\n

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) previously told the ABC the man’s treatment began within half an hour of his arrival at the emergency department.<\/p>\n

At parliamentary budget estimates in Brisbane yesterday, CHHHS chief executive Leena Singh defended the hospital’s actions under questioning from Labor MP Mark Bailey.<\/p>\n

“I can confirm the particular individual received the appropriate medical treatment on his presentation,” Ms Singh told the hearing.<\/p>\n

In a further statement to the ABC, Ms Singh said a preliminary internal review found CHHHS clinicians “acted appropriately and in accordance with Queensland Health policies, relevant legislation and their professional clinical judgement”.<\/p>\n

“Our health service works closely with Queensland Police Service and other partner agencies every day to provide the best possible care for our community.<\/p>\n

“We remain committed to that strong collaboration.”<\/p>\n

The man has been charged with eight offences, including wilful damage, attempted robbery and going armed to cause fear.<\/p>\n

He is due to appear in court tomorrow, having had his case adjourned twice this week while recovering in hospital from the shooting.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Leena Singh addressed the incident at budget estimates. (ABC Far North: Christopher Testa\/File)<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Tim Nicholls said Queensland Health worked with investigating officers “including examining interactions between the alleged perpetrator and the health system”.<\/p>\n

The Police Ethical Standards Command is investigating the shootings.<\/p>\n

Cairns MP Michael Healy said the man’s hospital presentation and discharge needed thorough investigation.<\/p>\n

“I would then expect to see some kind of communication to the broader public as to what measures [CHHHS] have taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Very reasonably the community would expect some answers to this and I think they are well and truly within their rights to ask that.”Specific criteria to detain patients<\/p>\n

CHHHS answered general questions about the process followed when a patient was detained and brought to hospital under an emergency examination authority.<\/p>\n

It said patients underwent a comprehensive clinical assessment by qualified clinicians.<\/p>\n

However, hospitals did not have legal authority to detain a person against their wishes unless specific criteria were met under the Mental Health Act.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/p>\n

The Cairns Hospital assessed and treated the man the night before he was shot by police while allegedly armed. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)<\/p>\n

“Patients experiencing drug or alcohol-related mental health symptoms are assessed and treated using the same clinical principles as any other mental health presentation, with care tailored to their individual needs,” Ms Singh said in a written statement.<\/p>\n

“Any patient needing ongoing care will be provided a bed.<\/p>\n

“Approximately 40 per cent of all presentations to the emergency department result in the patient being admitted to hospital.<\/p>\n

“Where appropriate, patients are referred for follow-up care on discharge.<\/p>\n

“Information is shared with other agencies only where clinically appropriate and authorised under relevant legislation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cairns Hospital’s chief executive has defended the treatment provided to a man who was shot by police hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,69152,69151,69153,69156,69154,69162,3162,69157,69161,63350,11019,69160,3227,46110,2444,69159,69155,69158,20071],"class_list":["post-60853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-cairns-and-hinterland-hospital-and-health-service","tag-cairns-hospital","tag-chhhs","tag-emergency-examination-authority","tag-leena-singh","tag-mark-bailey","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-act-2016","tag-michael-healy","tag-mount-sheridan","tag-police-shooting","tag-qpu","tag-queensland-government","tag-queensland-health","tag-queensland-police-service","tag-queensland-police-union","tag-richard-allan-tom","tag-shane-prior","tag-tim-nicholls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}