Dorchester girl who jumped from school bus visited ER 9 times, inquest hears
CBC
A 13-year-old girl who died after she jumped from the emergency exit of her moving school bus in Dorchester, N.B., two years ago visited the emergency department for mental health issues nine times in the months leading up to her death, a coroner's inquest heard Tuesday.
Hailey Pierce suffered a severe brain injury on April 12, 2022, and was pronounced dead at the Moncton Hospital the next morning.
The jury heard testimony from seven more witnesses during the second day of the inquest, which painted a picture of the teen's life, her mental health struggles, and efforts to get help.
Jodi Stilwell, a licensed counselling therapist, who started seeing Hailey in April 2021, said she was bullied "quite a lot" by other students, but switched to Dorchester Consolidated School in September 2021 and seemed to be doing better.
By early March though, that changed.
The teen, who was diagnosed with ADHD and mood disorder, violated her new school's dress code and got into an altercation with another girl that involved police.
She was running away from home, self-cutting and suicidal.
Dr. Syed Sadiq, her psychiatrist since Aug. 9, 2019, had prescribed various medications that he felt were working. He met with her five times up to March 2022, and at no time felt hospitalization was required, based on guidelines psychiatrists follow, his experience and her presentation, he told the Moncton courtroom.
Hailey did visit the hospital several times, however, said Jennifer Little, Horizon's chief nursing information officer, who detailed each visit for the jury.
On Nov. 17, 2021, the teen had self-cut her arm and expressed suicidal ideation to the RCMP. She was taken to the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre's ER and transferred the next morning to the Moncton Hospital, where she saw a child psychiatrist.
Little said she was suicidal, but was not admitted.
On Dec. 31, 2021, she went to the ER again with suicidal ideation and was triaged as Level 2 — the second most severe, said Little
The teen was seen by a physician but sent home and asked to return the next morning for a psychiatric evaluation, she said.
That was completed, but she returned by ambulance on Jan. 2.
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