A coroner has warned that vulnerable people are trusting self-proclaimed healers without basic first aid training, following the death of Natasha Lechner after a ‘kambo’ ceremony in Mullumbimby. Lechner died suddenly and violently after the ceremony, which took place at a time when the traditional South American medicine was largely unregulated in Australia.
The 39-year-old’s death was due to an adverse cardiac event triggered by the kambo, according to the coroner. Lechner was morbidly obese at the time of her death, but was focused on improving her health.
The woman who administered kambo to Lechner was Victoria Sinclair, who Lechner regarded as a “teacher” and friend. Sinclair’s website described her as a “postcolonial specialist and plant medicine practitioner” who was “working on a High Priestess Level of initiation” and had experienced “shamanic initiation”.
At the time of the inquest, she continued to advertise herself as an experienced kambo practitioner.
The coroner found that “while there is no credible research about medicinal benefits of kambo”, there are “clear and identified risks” that are “underestimated by some of its proponents”.
Lechner’s three-day coronial inquest was held in Lismore in May last year, immediately prior to that of…
2024-02-23 01:23:04
Article from www.theguardian.com
