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Graham, Steven and Judith Allen after walking out of St Pancras Coroner’s Court |
Family boycott mum inquest
Children walk out of court in evidence protest over mental health centre death
A DISTRAUGHT family boycotted the inquest into their mother’s death when the coroner denied them extra time to gather more evidence on Islington’s mental health services.
In dramatic scenes at St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, the Allen family stormed out of the hearing into the death of 61-year-old Sandra Allen, calling it a “miscarriage of justice”.
Mrs Allen, a mother-of-four, of Kelvin Road in Highbury who suffered from bipolar affective disorder, died at the Highgate Mental Health Centre in Dartmouth Park Hill last October.
Her son Steven, backed silently by sister Judith, 19, and brother Graham, 21, told the court there had been “appalling failures in her medical treatment” while she had been at the centre and called for the inquest to be adjourned until the family had proper legal representation.
Mr Allen, 23, who is training to be a lawyer, cited “systemic failures” at the Highgate centre including a security guard who slept while ambulance staff tried to get into the building, inadequate observation practices and the improper use of powerful anti-psychotic drug, Acuphase.
But coroner Dr Andrew Reidsaid the family had had “considerable time” to prepare and insisted that he had “no reason to suspect there was a current systemic failure” in the Camden and Islington Mental Health Trust.
When he ruled the inquest should proceed, the three Allen siblings walked out, refusing to give evidence.
Speaking outside the court, Steven Allen vowed to return to the High Court to appeal against the decision.
He said: “Dr Reid has chosen not to investigate very serious deficiencies throughout the NHS. “My mother was a beautiful human being. We will fight to get justice for her.”
Staff nurses told the inquest Mrs Allen had been found collapsed in the disabled toilet on her ward shortly after midnight, appearing to have choked on a sandwich.
But despite ward nurses admitting she had a tendency to “pack her cheeks” with food and had suffered choking fits, an autopsy showed Mrs Allen had died from coronary heart disease.
The court heard Mrs Allen had been a difficult but well-liked patient, who would pretend to be one of the nurses and steal cigarettes from other patients.
She had suffered a long list of physical ailments, including MRSA, deep vein thrombosis, heart disease and prolapsed rectum.
Kate O’Regan, a service manager at the Highgate Mental Health Centre, admitted there had been “unacceptable” factors and procedures at had been revised since the death.
The inquest heard how:
nMrs Allen was physically assaulted by other patients on several occasions.
nMrs Allen had gone without dentures for months though had continued to be fed normal food, leaving her to chew her meals for hours and putting her at risk of choking.
nThat on the night of her death, the security guard at the centre had been asleep, leaving an ambulance crew unable to get into the building.
But Dr Anne McGuinness, an accident and emergency consultant at University College Hospital, agreed the cause of death had been heart failure rather than choking, and said the delay to ambulance services would not have affected the outcome, as a senior house officer had provided CPR in their place.
Dr Reid adjourned to consider his final verdict, stating that he would “notify the properly interested parties of his conclusion” in the next few days.
He said: “I’m going to have to consider carefully my final summary of evidence and how I complete the inquest into the cause and circumstances of death.”
He added: “I am prepared to indicate the conclusion will primarily be that Sandra Allen died of natural causes.” |
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Why, in a Western Capital City, are patients left to suffer and be abused like this. Surely charges would be brought were someone to have treated an animal in this way, yet it seems that it's excused when it's the NHS. An outrage. One wonders how Dr Reid can sleep at night.
Piers Thom |
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