Family not done asking questions
Recommendations from a fatality inquiry offer little satisfaction for the family of Glenn Piche, who in 2013 took his own life on the psychiatric ward at MHRH
It has already cost $70,000 in legal fees and family members of a man who died while in Medicine Hat Regional Hospital’s psychiatric ward feel they still don’t have the truth about what happened.
The report from a public inquiry into the death of Glenn Piche in 2013 has nine recommendations, including having video cameras in all rooms. This would alert staff to any patient attempting to harm themselves in any way. The report says the safety of patients is more important than any privacy issues that might be argued. Three previous fatality inquiries in Alberta have also called for video surveillance in all psychiatric ward rooms.
Glenn’s brother Marc Piche and wife Julie say they are surprised Alberta Health Services has not already taken action to have these cameras in place. During the inquiry, when the expense of cameras was mentioned by AHS, the judge pointed out that cameras are not as expensive as they used to be, said Marc.
A group is going to be looking at the recommendations in detail, said Katherine Chubbs, chief zone officer AHS south zone in as interview last Friday. It will take a week or two to have the group in place and then a few months to look at the recommendations.
“My hope is by Christmas we will certainly have a good handle of the recommendations ... by the end of the year for sure,” said Chubbs.
Piche was admitted to hospital in June 2013 after family members expressed concern about him possibly taking his life. The inquiry heard from medical staff who said he did not appear suicidal and he was not placed in one of the rooms where there was a video camera. On June 20, he was found in medical distress after using a bed sheet to hang himself on the bathroom door. He was revived but died within days.
The feasibility of cameras in every room was not something Chubbs wanted to comment on at this stage.
Marc is concerned not only about cameras but also the memory cards in them. One of the existing and centrally located cameras in the ward would have been able to verify the times staff checked on Glenn. According to the report, the “video from the camera at the nursing station is overwritten every 14 days. The video for June 20, 2013 was not kept as there was no direction to preserve that video.”
“My brother died but it is nobody’s fault,” said Marc, referring to his frustration at the lack of answers.
Marc is also upset that police testimony, from its own investigation, was not allowed at the inquiry.
“The truth never came out. It was nobody’s fault,” said Marc.
Glenn had struggled with mental health issues in the past. They tended to come in cycles about every five or six years. The family thought admitting him to hospital would ensure he received the care he needed to get well again. Psychiatric ward staff had heard directly from family about concerns he would try to commit suicide.
Glenn’s wife, Laurie Sherwood, was so distressed about what happened to Glenn she took her own life just 18 months later.
The inquiry brought to light the need for easy access to a patient’s records and recommends that all records at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital be electronic, and that older records, stored off site, be provided as quickly as “reasonably possible.”.
The Piche family says a lack of support from AHS since Glenn’s death has been hard to fathom.
“The system failed completely,” said Marc.