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Tragic Buncrana suicide
recalled 30.09.08
Father-of-three took
his own life as he awaited rehab, inquest hears
A CORONER has called for more "joined up thinking"
between the hospital, primary healthcare and
voluntary sectors in relation to alcoholic patients
following the suicide earlier this year of a man in
Buncrana.
Donegal coroner Dr John Madden made his comments on
Friday at the inquest into the tragic death of
Paudie Taylor, a 54-year old Dubliner who had lived
for many years in the seaside town.
Mr Taylor, an alcoholic described as well-read and
well-liked, was found with fatal stab wounds to his
chest and cuts to his neck on January 24, 2008 in
the Buncrana home of his friend, Don McNeill. Mr
McNeill, a Newfoundlander, had invited the
father-of-three to stay at his Pairc na hAluine home
for support until he could be admitted for
rehabilitation.
Mr McNeill described how he fled to neighbours in
shock after discovering his friend's fully-clothed
body in the kitchen of his home around 4.45pm on
January 24. He described seeing one of his large
chef's knives protruding from the dead man's chest
with two large knives lying on a folded blood-soaked
towel nearby.
The inquest in Carndonagh also heard about the
events leading up to Mr Taylor's death starting on
the night of Christmas Eve, 2007 when he was
discovered shivering on Lisfannon beach by a search
party including his son and friends. He later told
his ex wife Miriam Killeney he had intended going
into the sea. Ms Killeney testified how on Christmas
Day she brought her ex partner to Letterkenny
General Hospital's A&E unit. Later she spoke to the
psychiatrist on call and outlined a previous
Taylor-family suicide and the escalation of her
ex-husband's drinking in the previous six months,
during which he gave up his job as a taxi driver. |
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It was agreed that the
patient would begin detox for a few days in the
medical ward before being moved to the psychiatric
ward. But on December 28, the hospital discharged
him. Following an urgent request from the family he
was transferred to the hospital's psychiatric unit
where he remained for ten days before discharging
himself. Ms Killeney said during his time in the
unit, a doctor told him that if he continued to
drink he would develop early Alzheimer's and brain
damage. She said he became “fixated on the
possibility that this had already happened. |
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In a lengthy
deposition, his wife outlined how she took him to
White Oaks Rehabilitation Centre in Muff for a
one-hour screening interview on January 15. He was
told he would be admitted the following week but
when he arrived on January 23, the centre said he
could not be admitted because he was hearing voices
and was on Xanax, a drug not acceptable to the
centre's policy. They were "shocked" and following a
visit to his GP, Dr Seamus O Domhnaill, the patient
was prescribed Librium. But this too was
unacceptable to the White Oaks programme, the
inquest was told. Ms Killeney was then advised to
return to his GP and seek a change of prescription
and a referral letter for Paudie to be assessed the
following day when the psychiatrist visited
Buncrana. She said while her husband was in
withdrawal awaiting addiction support, he remained
remorseful, agitated, was having hallucinations and
thought he was "losing his mind". Ms Killeney was
told that on the basis that his medication got
sorted, he could be readmitted to White Oaks in a
"couple of weeks". The night before he died, she and
their youngest son visited him as he prepared to
light a fire and watch a Western on TV before
attending an AA meeting at 8.30pm. He agreed he
would keep the appointments she arranged for him
with the psychiatrist and addiction counsellor the
following day. It was the last time they saw him
alive.
Ms Killeney, a social worker with the HSE, said the
family would like to know if Paudie would still be
alive if there had been a "shared and accepted
policy" between his GP, White Oaks and the HSE in
relation to his medication and the community care
response to patients between screening and admission
to treatment programmes. A visibly upset Dr O
Domhnaill, a personal friend of the deceased,
admitted that Paudie had been let down by the
current system. He said the health agencies needed
to be "more streamlined" in relation to patients
with addiction problems. The jury returned a verdict
of death by suicide in line with the medical
evidence including that contained in a nine-page
report from State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy. Her
report stated that the large knife had penetrated
the victim’s heart and that this was the cause of
death. She found no defensive wounds and concluded
that the injuries were self-inflicted. Dr Madden
said he would send all the depositions to the HSE in
the hope that such a “horrible” tragedy could be
prevented in future. He said if health professionals
such as Ms Killeney and Dr O Domhnaill could “not
work the system” there was “no hope for the rest of
us”. |
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