Coroner's inquest jury suggests 4 improvements to mental health care in P.E.I. hospitals
CBC
Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.
The jury at a coroner's inquest in Summerside has issued several recommendations aimed at preventing any more suicide deaths in P.E.I. hospitals.
The inquest was called as a result of the death of 67-year-old Angela Arsenault, who died after being admitted to the mental health unit at Prince County Hospital in February 2023.
Arsenault's son and daughter participated in the inquest alongside Crown attorney John Diamond, and were able to ask questions of experts and hospital staff who testified.
In her closing remarks for the jury Friday, Lisa Arsenault spoke about a health-care system with many gaps that failed her mother.
"I feel guilty for leaving her [at] PCH. It was supposed to be the safest space for her to be stabilized," she said, in part. "We cannot bring my mother back — but we can attempt to save others in similar situations.
"As difficult as it is supporting someone experiencing acute mental-health symptoms, we would have moved the moon and the stars to bring her back to the loving and caring mother, grandmother, sister and friend that she was."
The circumstances surrounding Arsenault's death were never disputed during the inquest. The Tignish woman had long struggled with her mental health, and had attempted suicide and sought help multiple times before.
In February 2023, she was involuntarily admitted to Prince County Hospital's mental health unit after overdosing on her medication.
Staff members were directed to check on her every 15 minutes.
A few days in, during a routine check, an employee found Arsenault unconscious in the bathroom of her room. She had used the shower curtain rod to hang herself, and later died of a brain injury.
On Friday, after hearing four days of testimony this fall about what happened in the months and days leading up to Arsenault's death, a jury issued four recommendations on what should be done to help prevent similar tragedies in the future:
A similar death took place in 2016 at Charlottetown's Hillsborough Hospital, which led to an inquest and a recommendation that shower curtain rods, coat hooks and door knobs in hospital units should be adjusted so that they could not support a person's weight.
Changes have been made at Prince County Hospital, but only since Arsenault's death.
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