Families sue St. Joe’s after two men die by suicide
Lawsuit alleges hospital was negligent
THEY WERE TWO suicidal men who trusted St. Joe’s hospital with their lives.
Brandon Taylor, 29, had no choice. He was involuntarily admitted to the West 5th Campus for psychiatric care.
Joel Verge, 42, admitted himself, hoping West 5th would help him with his substance abuse and mental health issues.
Within days of becoming in-patients of St. Joseph’s Healthcare, each man died by suicide. Each found the means to kill himself in his own hospital room while he was supposed to be carefully watched by staff.
Each man’s family has filed an $8.5million negligence suit against the hospital and its staff, claiming they failed to follow their own policies and procedures for the safety of suicidal patients.
Brandon and Joel are two of 11 St. Joe’s patients (while in-patients, outpatients and on day passes) who have died by suicide in less than two years.
“Had the hospitals simply done the job they were supposed to do, they wouldn’t have died when they did,”
Michael Smitiuch, lawyer for the Taylor and Verge families said at a news conference Monday.
The statements of claim filed by the families contain allegations that have not been tested in court.
Brandon was a funny, adventurous and spontaneous guy. He had a computer engineering degree from McMaster University, but had lost his job a few months before he died. He loved to go on cruises with his dad, Stuart Taylor. He was engaged to marry his longtime sweetheart Jennifer Smyth. They had a date set for their wedding and were planning a family.
According to the claim, on August 15, 2016, Brandon was rushed to St. Joe’s ER after trying to take his life by an overdose of Xanax, hydromorphone, codeine and alcohol.
He was admitted to the mood disorders program at West 5th the following day with orders to be monitored every 15 minutes. He told a nurse, a psychiatrist and a spiritual caregiver about having suicidal thoughts. He was “chemically restrained” on Aug. 16 and 17 and diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, panic disorder and severe substance abuse.
According to the statement of claim, on Aug. 18, shortly after a nurse reassured his mom he was safe, Brandon took a plastic bag lining the garbage can in his room, placed it over his head and suffocated himself.
Throughout his hospital stay, Brandon used his phone to search for ways to die by suicide. Thirty minutes before his death, he Googled “suicide/suffocation.”
Brandon was placed on life support but was pronounced dead Aug. 19.
The lawsuit says the hospital was negligent, in part, because it “provided Brandon with the means to take his own life, by allowing a plastic bag to be in his hospital room.”
A photo Brandon took of his own hospital room clearly shows the garbage bag, as well as his cellphone cord and several sheets and towels — all of which could be used to harm himself.
Joel struggled for years with mental health issues and addiction. He was a talented carpenter who, according to his parents, Carl and Jane Verge, loved his 12-year-old daughter more than anything on Earth. He hit bottom when he lost custody of her.
On Oct. 19, 2016, he admitted himself to St. Joe’s, hoping for help with his depression, panic attacks, anxiety, suicidal ideations, bipolar disorder and substance abuse. He had been admitted to hospital in the past due to suicide attempts.
On Oct. 24, while in hospital, Joel used cocaine. After that, he became “significantly more” suicidal, according to the statement of claim.
Oct. 25, he tried to kill himself in his hospital bathroom by slicing his neck with a knife from the hospital kitchen. He pressed the “call bell” for help and was rushed into surgery.
By Oct. 31, Joel was back at West 5th and allowed to go outside to smoke. The next day, he fled from the hospital with another patient to use drugs. He returned the morning of Nov. 2, was readmitted and deemed a suicide risk. Staff was directed to scan his room for potential dangers, but his belt was left there, according to the statement of claim.
He was supposed to be under “constant observation.”
On Nov. 3 a nurse changed the bandages on Joel’s neck at 8 p.m. At 10:50 p.m. he was found, hanging by his belt from the closet door in his room. He was placed on life support and pronounced dead Nov. 9.
Stunningly, Joel’s cousin also died by suicide while a psychiatric patient at St. Joe’s five years earlier. He went outside to smoke, left, and jumped in front of a train.
In response to the lawsuits, St. Joe’s president David Higgins issued a statement Monday which extended condolences to Brandon and Joel’s families and referred to an “independent review” of nine recent patient suicides that the hospital requested.
“We comprehensively investigated each death, but believed that it was important to reach outside of our organization as well to ensure we continue to look at every avenue to find answers and support care for those who suffer so deeply.”
The lawsuits highlight an issue that spreads beyond St. Joe’s, although nobody in Canada is keeping official statistics as to the number of suicide deaths within hospitals.
Smitiuch says he is representing about 20 families across Canada who have lost loved ones to suicide while they were hospital patients.
He and his clients have, since 2015, called for an Ontario coroner’s inquest into the problem. Families in Hamilton have made the same demand, as has provincial NDP leader and Hamilton MPP Andrea Horwath.
The Office of the Chief Coroner has resisted. It has not explained why.