Richard Norton spent a lifetime getting hit, thrown and kicked for a living, and he was good at it. He trained stars like Charlize Theron and Liam Neeson for film stunts, and he faced off against Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan on screen. What ended up killing him, according to a coroner, was a vial and a syringe.
Norton was 75, with osteoarthritis, asthma and a history of shoulder reconstructions. According to the coroner’s report, he went to a doctor interested in peptide therapy. He was after relief from fatigue, shoulder pain, slower physical recovery and the loss of muscle mass that comes with age. He told the doctor another practitioner had already prescribed him peptides.
The doctor, Jerzy Muchnicki, prescribed CJC-1295 and ipamorelin as injections. The two are usually used together to push the body into producing more growth hormone and a related hormone called IGF-1. Neither is approved by the TGA. The report says the doctor ordered baseline blood tests, walked Norton through the experimental nature of the treatment, and had him sign an informed consent form.
Then came the part that matters most. In the days before he died, Norton told the clinic he felt good and that the treatment was working. He also admitted to a nurse that he had been injecting double the prescribed dose. The nurse told him to drop back to the prescribed amount from the following week. Hours after that conversation, he injected a dose and became unresponsive.
TMZ’s coverage cites the report as saying the injection caused an anaphylactic reaction, which then led to cardiac arrest.
This wasn’t a case of someone buying powder off a stranger online. A licensed doctor prescribed the drugs, and a licensed pharmacy compounded them. That is exactly why it’s uncomfortable.
The Medical Board of Australia looked into the doctor’s care after a complaint was lodged. An independent expert, Professor Alistair Vickery, told the board there was not enough evidence that the combination is safe, effective or beneficial for human use. He also judged the doctor’s notes to be sparse and inadequate, and said that on record-keeping his performance fell below the expected standard. On the clinical care itself, he felt it met a reasonable standard, partly because of the signed consent and Norton’s earlier peptide use without problems.
The board found the doctor’s practice “is or may be unsatisfactory” but decided formal regulatory action wasn’t warranted. He received a caution and conditions. According to the report, he accepted responsibility, apologised, and expressed sorrow for Norton’s family. ABC says it has contacted him for comment.
The coroner’s main recommendation is aimed at the TGA. It asks the regulator to review the therapeutic benefits and safety risks of peptides like CJC-1295 and ipamorelin, and to consider whether further restrictions are needed. The coroner’s report also notes that the TGA itself says there are several pathways by which doctors can legally access unapproved peptides.
The TGA’s response was cautious. It says it keeps warning consumers about products it hasn’t assessed for safety, quality or effectiveness. It also says it has passed those warnings on to health practitioners and is weighing whether further measures are appropriate.
None of this is happening in isolation. ABC’s recent reporting points to a surge in peptide-related hospital visits in New South Wales, and to harm-minimisation charities being swamped by peptide users asking for free syringes. Norton’s case now gives that trend a name and a coroner’s finding.
It’s easy to read this and conclude the lesson is “don’t double your dose.” That’s true, and the coroner said as much. But it dodges the bigger issue. A man did most of the “right” things: he saw a doctor, got blood work, signed a consent form, and used a regulated pharmacy. He still died from a product no regulator had ever signed off on. Consent forms record that a risk was disclosed. They don’t make the drug safe.
Norton is survived by his wife, actress Judy Green. When he died, she said she had lost her everything.
