A mother who lost her son to suicide is adding her voice to an opposition call for an inquiry into mental health services in Nova Scotia.

She says she feels her son was failed by the system, and says warning signs were ignored when he went to hospital seeking help.

Fran Morrison’s 21-year-old son Eric was found dead in his Halifax apartment five years ago.

Morrison says Eric took his own life six weeks after seeking help at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.

“You have a suicidal person going to emergency asking for help,” she says, “and they’re sent home with a sleeping pill, and then followed up by a social worker who looks at the mother and says, ‘oh, your son’s not a threat to himself.’”

Morrison feels her son was failed repeatedly by the health care system.

She says he told doctors about three previous suicide attempts, one on the same day he went to hospital.

She has long been seeking an inquiry into his death.

Now, she is joiningthe call by Nova Scotia’s Opposition Leader Jamie Baillie for a broader inquiry.

“An inquiry is the first step toward getting real help to families that need it,” says Baillie.

Baillie says an inquiry should examine every aspect of the system.

“We want to make sure that it’s open wide,” he adds, “so we can hear from families that are suffering, from people who provide care in our system already.”

An idea rejected by Health Minister Leo Glavine.

“If these people like Leo Glavine, who are saying there’s no crisis in health care, had any personal experience with it,” says Morrison, “they wouldn’t be saying that.”

Glavine was not available for an interview on Thursday.

But in a statement, the Department of Health says it has heard from some in the mental health community who do not agree that an inquiry would be a good use of resources, and that for now, the department wants to focus on timely access to mental health services.

Fran Morrison insists more still needs to be done, and is circulating a petition in her community.

“He asked for help,” she says, “didn’t get it, and he didn’t have the energy to keep asking.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.