Madam, - Monday last marked the anniversary of a suicide in our family which, as your Health Supplement pointed out (Nov 7th) is experienced indirectly at least by 75 per cent of the population.
Was Hughie's suicide inevitable, likely or entirely preventable?
Was it included in a case review or simply left unremarked as another sad statistic?
Did someone, some professional, have to account for that death?
Why has Hughie's support system, his family and friends, never been debriefed or is their experience irrelevant?
What about the experience of Hughie, himself?
Why was he released back into our care with no warning, no training or psychological support offered to him or us?
Why did his doctor change so often or fail to show up for appointments or treat him without respect? Was there any plan for his care beyond heavy medication?
Were there compounding factors such as financial worries, chronic pain, side-effects from medication, loneliness that might have been more actively managed if we were able to monitor the severity of Hughie's depression more accurately?
Is suicide not an incident worth capturing and investigating or is there too much fear of blame in case human error was a factor that contributed to his death?
The gardaí investigated Hughie's untimely death with the respect, courtesy and understanding due to a citizen of this country and his family, so why can't the health service? It might save them a lot in legal fees. - Yours, etc,
MAURICE MASON, Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare.