An ice addict has reportedly gouged out his own eyeballs and ate them during a visit to a hospital emergency department.

A Federal Liberal MP revealed the horrific story at an Ice Summit on the Central Coast, which aimed to address the epidemic in the region.

Dobell Federal Liberal MP Karen McNamara shared the gruesome story to a packed auditorium as she opened the summit this morning.

“There is nothing at all recreational about this drug,” Ms McNamara said.

“Let me tell you a story that demonstrates this ... about a young boy taken into an emergency department for treatment who gouged out his own eyeballs and ate them,” she said.





“We have to get these kinds of stories out to young people — this is not a recreational drug,” she said.

A spokeswoman told news.com.au the incident occurred at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle and a first response health worker told the MP the story.

The health worker wanted to remain anonymous.

A John Hunter Hospital spokesperson told news.com.au said she could not find a record of the eye gouging incident, but did find evidence of a similar incident that occurred more than a decade ago.

“We have not been able to find a recent record of this incident,” she said.

“There was a similar incident in the hospital’s Emergency Department more than a decade ago, however in the interest of their privacy, we are unable to provide any further information or confirm a link to the drug crystal methamphetamine without the patient’s consent.”

She said she would need more information including the patient’s name and the date to be able to confirm or deny the incident occurred.

A NSW Health spokesman said more information was needed to be able to confirm whether the incident occurred in another hospital in NSW.

Morning news break – May 22