A 23-year-old young man suffering from heartbreak took his own life in Port-Cartier, 24 hours after being hospitalized for a suicide attempt. The coroner questions the services he received.
“When a person dies by suicide one day after being discharged from hospital following a suicide attempt, it is reasonable to wonder whether the patient has obtained all the services necessary for his condition,” raises coroner Bernard Lefrançois, in its investigation report filed on November 14.
The 23-year-old took his own life on January 25, 2024. It was his ex-partner who discovered him. She was going to his house to collect some of his belongings, following a recent separation that he was having difficulty coping with.
The young man had nevertheless gone to the Port-Cartier Hospital Center twice, in the five days preceding the tragedy.
On January 20, he arrived there by ambulance, after having what appeared to be a panic attack in a public place.
Then, two days before the tragedy, it was the police who brought him in. After receiving a report from a relative who was concerned about suicidal comments he had made, they went to his home, where they found him unconscious.
His life was not in danger at the time, but he had consumed several medications and alcohol, according to the facts reported in his medical file.
“He told the paramedics he wanted to sleep forever. But he told the doctor that he did not want to die, but just wanted to sleep, hence his medication,” explains the coroner in his report.
At that time, the young man was kept at the hospital and treated for a suicide attempt.
“Smiling”
The emergency doctor contacted an on-call psychiatrist at the Sept-Îles Hospital, who, according to the description of the patient’s condition, did not see any red flags in this situation. He also did not see the need for psychiatric or psychological follow-up.
-On January 24, around 2 a.m., the doctor saw the 23-year-old man again. At that time, he described him as doing “extremely well”, “smiling” and “extremely cooperative”.
He concluded that he would be able to leave. He was discharged around noon.
“There is no indication that he was accompanied when he left,” notes the coroner.
The young man then tried to reassure those around him and his ex-partner that he did not want to end his life. He texted with her from 11 p.m. to midnight.
In the morning, he didn’t answer her phone. That’s when she went to his house, as planned, and found him unconscious in his wardrobe. He died of asphyxiation.
Prints
“The impression left by reading the medical file is that the medical staff relied solely on the reassuring impressions left by the patient,” wrote the coroner. “His death the day after his hospital discharge suggests that M. probably had suicidal intentions at the time of his release,” he continues.
Last November, coroner Lefrançois recommended that the CISSS Côte-Nord “review the quality of the support and care provided during the month of January 2024 to the deceased person and, if necessary, to put in place appropriate measures to improve the quality of care for users in such circumstances.”
Asked whether measures had been put in place since then, the CISSS de la Côte-Nord simply responded by email that it “is ensuring the required follow-ups in order to fully apply the recommendation.”
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