The death of an Adelaide fashion industry icon who suffered a cardiac arrest after taking magic mushrooms as an alternative treatment will be probed at a coronial inquest.
Carol Foord, the founder of Toffs and Wild Child Style Lab, fought breast cancer and symptoms of motor neurone disease before her death in June 2024.
She had sought out magic mushrooms as an alternative treatment for anxiety and, in the hours after ingesting the substance, went into cardiac arrest and needed resuscitation at home.
She was taken to hospital, where she died a short time later.
Last year, her family went public with her story to warn others about the risks of alternative treatments.
Carol Foord’s siblings (from left) Jenny Howland, Barbara Komazec and Michael Foord. (ABC News: Justin Hewitson)
The family also raised questions about the events leading up to her death, with a post-mortem report unable to pinpoint the cause of her heart failure.
Ms Foord’s sister, Barbara Komazec, welcomed the coroner’s decision to hold an inquest, which is due to begin next Tuesday.
“I feel like there needs to be more investigation into her death because there’s so many abnormalities throughout,”
she said.
Barbara Komazec said her sister’s case highlighted the dangers associated with undertaking alternative treatments. (ABC News: Justin Hewitson)
“It’s important for Carol’s sake because she definitely didn’t want to die that day.”
Psilocin detected in post-mortem
The post-mortem report, supplied to the family last year, said “there were no acute findings to account for sudden death”.
It recorded Ms Foord’s cause of death as “cardio respiratory failure on a background of motor neurone disease and substance use (psilocin and diazepam)”.
Barbara Komazec (left) with her sister, entrepreneur and businesswoman Carol Foord. (Supplied: Barbara Komazec)
Diazepam is used to treat anxiety, while psilocin is a hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms.
Samples showed both substances were present in Ms Foord’s blood when she died.
The report also noted an alternative health practitioner was reportedly with her when she “deteriorated”.
The practitioner was later charged with supplying or administering a controlled drug to another person, but the charge was dropped at a hearing in April 2025.
A family photo with Carol Foord, third from left, as a young child. (Supplied)
In an email to Ms Komazec, a SA Police detective said there was insufficient evidence for anyone to be charged.
‘Something needs to happen’
According to a 2024 National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre study, deaths caused by magic mushrooms are rare and occur mostly due to traumatic accidents or self-injury while under the influence of the drug.
But Ms Komazec said psilocin use still carried serious risk, and her sister’s case highlighted the dangers associated with undertaking alternative treatments.
She hoped the inquest would focus on how to prevent similar cases from happening in the future and suggested stricter regulation and more focus on public awareness as possible improvements.
“Something needs to happen so this type of thing doesn’t happen again,”
she said.
A memorial plaque for Carol Foord on a bench at Heywood Park in Unley. (ABC News: Justin Hewitson)
Ms Komazec also wanted the coroner to examine what information was given to medical professionals who treated Ms Foord prior to her death.
They had concerns medics did not know she had ingested magic mushrooms.
Two years after her sister’s death, Ms Komazec said the family was still grappling with the circumstances.
“It’s been hard,” she said.
“You never stop thinking about it when something like this happens.
“I know they say time heals but I think you never forget, it’s always there.”
