N.B. mother believes coroner's inquest will offer useful recommendations two years after daughter's death by suicide inside Saint John hospital's psychiatric unit

Warning: This article contains disturbing details concerning suicide.

A New Brunswick mother believes a coroner’s inquest, examining how her daughter was able to take her own life within a hospital’s psychiatric unit, is proceeding toward useful recommendations.

Hillary Hooper died on Dec. 9, 2020, a week after a suicide attempt by hanging inside the Saint John Regional Hospital’s psychiatric unit in Saint John, N.B., on Dec. 2, 2020.

It happened nearly a month after Hooper was first admitted to Saint John Regional Hospital following a suicide attempt.

The inquest is expected to wrap up on Wednesday.

At the end of the inquest’s second day, Hooper’s mother told reporters she was learning information about the incident for the first time.

“So far, I think I’m hearing testimony from witnesses who are telling me the truth because they’re boots-on-the-ground,” said Patty Borthwick, outside the Saint John Law Courts on Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m hearing a lot of conflicting information from what I was given by the higher executives at Horizon [Health Network].”

The coroner inquest’s second day focused on Hooper’s behaviour on Dec. 2, and her interactions with medical staff on 4D North, the Saint John Regional Hospital’s psychiatric wing.

Tuesday’s testimony detailed how a hospital bed inside Hooper’s unit was used to block the room’s door on Dec. 2. This was discovered at 11:05 p.m. during a scheduled check on Hooper.

“I couldn’t open the door,” said Karen Wood, a registered nurse working in 4D North on the evening of Dec. 2. “I looked [through the] window and there was something set against the door.”

Wood said it wasn’t uncommon for the door to be blocked, but not usually by anything that would inhibit it from being opened.

“Usually everyone blocked that door because it won’t stay closed,” said Wood.

Wood said she, along with another nurse, were able to push the door open, but couldn’t find Hooper in the room. Woods said she could see light coming from the bottom of the bathroom door.

After staff struggled to open the door, they discovered Hooper was hanging by a sheet wedged between the bathroom door and its doorframe. Wood said staff were able to get Hooper to the ground, adding that she landed on her bottom and groaned.

Wood said Hooper initially had a strong pulse, but it weakened and CPR was administered.

The hospital’s "Code Blue" team arrived in the unit by 11:15 p.m. and Hooper was in the hospital’s ICU by 11:44 p.m. Wood said the Saint John Police Force was called just before midnight, and Hooper’s family was notified just after midnight.

Hooper died a week later. She was 27 years old.

Multiple witnesses at the inquest have testified Hooper was being checked in on every hour by nurses in the unit and was soon expected to be discharged as a patient.

Dr. Alan Fostey, a psychiatrist who treated Hooper, said he had the ultimate authority on whether she would be released as a patient. Fostey was expecting Hooper to be discharged soon but said nothing had been finalized, nor communicated to the patient.

“It wasn’t written in stone,” said Fostey on Tuesday, via video conferencing.

Fostey said Hooper “had hesitancy about being discharged,” adding it wasn’t ideal for patients with borderline personality disorder to be in a psychiatric unit environment for weeks at a time due to the challenges of “stepping out in the real world again.”

OLD RECOMMENDATIONS, NEW RECOMMENDATIONS

A jury of five people was selected on Monday to examine the evidence and testimony presented. The panel will have the ability to make recommendations with the goal of preventing similar incidents.

Renée Fournier, a director of mental health and addictions at Horizon Health Network, said two internal recommendations were made following the incident.

The first recommendation, to cut the tops of bathroom doors in private units, was implemented.

Fournier testified the second recommendation, to create a separate, non-hospital setting for patients in crisis, still hadn’t been achieved. Fournier said a suitable space hadn’t been found near the hospital’s emergency department.

One of the first recommendations made by Hillary Hooper’s family was for furniture to be strapped to each unit’s floor.

“Then you couldn’t use the bed to block the door,” said Borthwick, adding she’d also like to see a recommendation about the unit using different bedding.

“Better charting, better reporting, strap the beds down, put different bedding on,” said Borthwick. “They don’t know until it happens, and it has happened. So let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, here are some resources that are available.

• CHIMO (in New Brunswick): 1-800-667-5005
• Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Line (in Nova Scotia): 1-888-429-8167
• Canada Suicide Prevention Helpline: 1-833-456-4566
• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: 1-800-463-2338
• Crisis Services Canada: 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645
• Kids Help Phone: [phone]

If you need immediate assistance call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.