The mother of a young woman who died by suicide weeks after being discharged from hospital, where she had been admitted following a previous suicide attempt, has asked how someone “that vulnerable” could be released into community mental health services that “weren’t working”.
Caoimhe Ní Dhuibhinn, of Swords, Co Dublin, was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Siobhán Casey Ni Dhuibhinn (26) at Beaumont Hospital on November 8th, 2023. A verdict of suicide was returned by coroner Aisling Gannon on Wednesday.
The court heard Ms Casey Ní Dhuibhinn, an administration manager in Trinity College Dublin, was found unresponsive in a hotel room in Swords on November 7th last year.
She had had a history of depression since she was 15. In 2020 her best friend had taken her own life. This was “like a catalyst for a deterioration in Siobhán’s mental health,” said Ms Ní Dhuibhinn. As it happened during Covid “proper services were not available” to her.
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She had made several suicide attempts, including at the end of September 2023, which resulted in her being in intensive care for 48 hours in Our Lady of Lourdes hospital, Drogheda during two-weeks as an inpatient.
She was discharged on September 30th, 2023 and saw her GP, who provided a report to the inquest that noted she had returned to HSE community mental health services.
Ms Ní Dhuibhinn said Siobhán had been living with her father, Paul Casey, until September 2023. On November 7th, she checked into a nearby hotel.
“Her form wasn’t good. She wasn’t talking that much. I told her I loved her. I waited until she went into the hotel. I went home then.
“The next morning I spoke with receptionist and manager and asked them to check on her but she hadn’t checked in in her own name so they couldn’t help. Then I got a call from the Guards saying she had been taken to hospital.”
She died the following day at 9.41pm. Her parents were with her.
Ms Ní Dhuibhinn “could not question” the care her daughter received in the two hospitals, but questioned her discharge back to the same community mental health system she had been with. “She was referred back into the system that she was already part of. My challenge with that is that clearly whatever supports she was receiving weren’t working because she ended up in ICU.”
Ms Gannon said she would raise the parents’ concerns about their daughter’s care with Our Lady of Lourdes hospital and the HSE community mental health in Swords, “specifically [about her] discharge from inpatient care in hospital without the benefit, from parents’ perspective, of appropriate safety-netting and engagement between services and the parents, noting the level of risk”.
The Samaritans can be contacted for free on the 24/7 phone helpline 116 123, or people can email jo@samaritans.ie or visit samaritans.ie.
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