Mental health services failed woman, city Inquest is told
A young woman (35) who had made a cry for help by taking an overdose of drugs more than a year ago, finally succeeded in her efforts last February when mental health services in the city failed her, it was claimed at an Inquest into her death.
The Inquest was adjourned to allow the Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, to substantiate claims made by the woman’s friends at the hearing in Galway Courthouse.
They wanted to know who prescribed all the medication that she used to take her own life, why was she not admitted to the mental health unit when she sought help last winter, and why she was not monitored after her first suicide attempt in September 2015.
The Inquest heard that she had been made homeless when the house she was living in was put up for sale about a year before her death.
She had stayed with friends, before getting a bed in the women’s refuge at Osterley Lodge in Salthill. During that stay she had made an attempt on her life, though, and had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance.
“After that things went bad, and in November/December 2015 she tried to check herself into hospital,” a friend said.
“Her mental health wasn’t good enough to stay there (at the refuge), so she left and tried to go to the hospital . . . she tried to check herself into the psychiatric unit but they wouldn’t take her. It is a systemic problem, she needed to be an impatient somewhere but didn’t get that help.”
Her friends said that the first attempt on her life was a cry for help, but that she was not supported in the aftermath, which eventually led to a successful attempt a few months later.
Another friend told the inquiry that the woman was staying with her in Salthill on the night of February 2 last, but when she did not return for dinner, the alarm was raised.
“I phoned her at 7pm, but her phone was off, and no one had seen or heard from her,” she recalled.
“From her Facebook page, she had not been online since 5pm. She had taken an overdose previously, so I became concerned for her when she didn’t return. At 11pm, I reported her missing at Salthill Garda Station.”
Her friends were told that the last known location of her phone had been in the Renmore area, where their search commenced. However, it subsequently emerged that she had been seen the following day outside Ballybane Church by a woman who recognised her from the ‘missing person’ posters around the city.
When her phone rang as they were talking, she said it was a friend, but no one knows who she spoke to.
Co-ordinated searches were commenced, and a search and rescue dog eventually located the woman’s body in Merlin Woods on the afternoon of February 10. A handbag and a plastic bag of medication were beside her.
She was pronounced dead at 3.30pm, and her remains were taken to UHG for a post mortem examination. Consultant pathologist, Dr Caroline Brody, told the hearing that she had overdosed after consuming a range of prescription medications and alcohol.
Dr MacLoughlin returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence that the woman died on the day she was last seen, February 3, from pulmonary oedema as a result of aspiration from an overdose.
The woman’s friends raised a number of concerns, among them that the co-ordinated search for her had been very slow and frustrating. They accepted the Coroner’s explanation that Gardaí had to be sure that she was missing before embarking on a massive search, but said that they were certain something was wrong from the beginning.
“How did she have that amount of medication, I’d question who prescribed the cocktail when she had attempted suicide in September – you’re throwing pills on top of the problem,” said another friend.
“She wanted cognitive behavioural therapy, but it was only available once a month, she wanted more – it was not enough for someone attempting suicide.”
One of the owners of the rescue dogs involved in the search told the inquiry that, in her experience, when people of a certain age go missing it is assumed that they died by suicide. She said of all the other areas she was familiar with that Galway was the worst.
“A lot of people seemed to have searched for help but didn’t get it – who is turning these people away?” she asked.
The inquiry was adjourned to January 27 to allow the Coroner time to contact the woman’s consultant psychiatrist, GP, and attempt to find medical records to show when she tried to check herself in for help.