THE family of a man who took his own life four days after being; discharged from a psychiatric hospital was awarded £35,000 damages against a health board which was found negligent by the High Court yesterday.
Mr Eamonn Healy (58), a farmer, of Broher, Ballinafad, Co Sligo, killed himself on December 17th, 1989, four days after being discharged from St Columba's Hospital, Sligo. He had been admitted on December 4th, suffering from depression.
The action against the North Western Health Board was taken by Ms Bridget Healy, one of the dead man's eight daughters, on behalf of the family. Their mother has died since Mr Healy's death.
Mr Justice Flood said Mr Healy had farmed 40 acres. He was a quiet and retiring man, a social drinker and had a pleasant personality. In his judgment, he said that as the pressures on release may be quite substantially greater than the pressures in hospital, it was necessary that the person responsible for discharge should satisfy himself that the patient was in a "firm remission".
In his view, there was no evidence of any assessment that the deceased had reached a status of firm remission. A person with firm remission would be unlikely to have committed suicide within four days.
"It has to be accepted that it could happen but, in my view, in the absence of specific evidence of deterioration, it would be an unlikely event," he added.
Mr Justice Flood said it was unlikely that such an assessment had been carried out on Mr Healy, or if conducted, it was an inadequate assessment or inadequately considered.
He found the defendants guilty of negligence in discharging Mr Healy at a time when they knew or ought to have known that he was not in firm remission. Accordingly, he granted a decree for, damages for negligence.
The quantum of damages had been agreed between the sides, subject to the determination of liability.
The judge said Bridget Healy had recounted that she lived with her father, mother and sister on the farm. In 1972, her father suffered from depression and became uninterested in work.
He was taken to St Columba's, and after about three months was allowed home. He lived a normal life until October/November 1989. She and her mother noticed he had "no go" in him. He slept most of the day and had no interest in the farm.
He saw a GP but after treatment they considered he was becoming worse. She made contact with a public psychiatric nurse, who on December 4th persuaded Mr Healy to go into hospital.
He was happy and confident of the care he was receiving but appeared to make little progress. After about three days there was a suggestion he should go home, but on talking to Bridget the father decided he was not fit to go.
He did not seem to Bridget to progress greatly. On December 14th she got a phone call at work to say he was being discharged. As soon as she could leave work she went to the hospital with a view to dissuading the authorities from discharging him. On arrival she found his brother had visited him, and her father had been sent home in his care.
Mr Healy was at home for the next three days, mainly in bed, and did not appear to her to have improved, greatly. Bridget had concern for her father who was "not himself". He was visited by a public psychiatric nurse on December 15th.
Another daughter, Rachel, had stated she saw her father when he came home and he was "very little different to when he went in."
Mr Justice Flood decided that, of the £35,000, a sum of £7,500 should be divided among the eight daughters for mental distress. Of the remainder, Bridget, and Rachel - who resided with the father - are each to receive £9,000, and a grand daughter, Pamela, is to get £3,500. The balance is to be divided equally among the other daughters.
A 21 day, stay was granted in the event of an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The North Western Health Board has declined to comment on the case until it consults its legal advisers.