Family urges province to heed jury's findings on gaps in system after inquest on mother's suicide
Angela Arsenault died after a suicide attempt at Summerside's hospital in 2023
Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.
Angela Arsenault's son and daughter are urging the P.E.I. government to follow through on jury recommendations issued after a coroner's inquest into her death.
The 67-year-old took her own life while she was a patient in the mental health unit at Prince County Hospital in early 2023.
Arsenault's two children say her death was preventable. Over the course of the four-day inquest that ended Friday, Lisa and Derrick Arsenault listened to testimony from others, and themselves spoke about what happened in the lead-up to their mother's death.
"I was really concerned with leaving her on the Island because of the lack of supports — and my fear was true," said Lisa Arsenault, who lives in Ontario.
"The lack of supports and lack of attention to her as an individual, and not just a number in the system, ultimately brought us to where we are today."
Now, they hope that the four recommendations that came out of the coroner's inquest aren't ignored.
"Who is going to follow up? Who is accountable for following up on these pieces?" Lisa Arsenault asked. "That's one of the major pieces for me. Who cares enough to make these things happen for folks?"
Gaps in the system
Arsenault's children feel their mother was doomed by gaps in P.E.I.'s health-care system. As the inquest heard, the Tignish woman struggled with her mental health throughout her life, and was going through a particularly tough time in the winter of 2023.
Like many Islanders, she didn't have a family doctor or psychiatrist to offer her consistent care.
"There needed to be a change in her medication to help get her through some of this rough stuff she was going through, and she didn't have access to anybody," her daughter said. "So she had to go to an emergency room in order to get access."
After overdosing on medication in an effort to take her own life, Angela Arsenault was involuntarily admitted to Prince County Hospital's mental health unit that February. During a routine check a few days later, staff found her unconscious in her hospital room's bathroom, having hung herself on the shower curtain rod.
"It seemed like it was just a routine inventory, like, 'OK, they're present, check.' Every 15 minutes: 'Present, check,'" said Derrick Arsenault. "But especially in my mom's situation, it has to be more than just a check."
She should've been on a more secured watch, and not left fending for herself for too long.— Derrick Arsenault
He questions why she wasn't more closely monitored, and how she was able to hang herself.
"My mother just came from attempting [suicide] prior, and she should've been on a more secured watch, and not left fending for herself for too long."
Angela Arsenault died a few days later, of a brain injury.
Changes, but not province-wide
After a similar suicide at Hillsborough Hospital in Charlottetown in 2016, a jury recommended staff remove any items that could be used to let someone die by hanging. But that didn't happen at Prince County Hospital until after Arsenault's death.
"It never went provide-wide," Derrick Arsenault said of the change in policy. "The fact it didn't get changed is unbelievable."
"It's like, 'Well, what happened within those six years?'" Lisa Arsenault said. "Just because it was at a different hospital that inquest was looking at, why not other hospitals as well, the other wards on the Island?"
The jury in this inquest recommended four courses of action. Among them is to make necessary changes to hospital facilities happen faster — and to review how room checks are conducted.
The Arsenaults say that's a positive step, but they were hoping for more.
"I'm happy with some of the recommendations. But I don't think there was a deep dive into some of the other gaps in the system," said Lisa Arsenault.
"It kind of really focused on the incident at PCH, but didn't talk a lot about the community supports and the lack of medical supports in general across the Island."
Apology from Health P.E.I.
In a statement Tuesday, Health P.E.I. said it accepts the recommendations the coroner's office passed on from the jury, and commits to taking action on them "promptly."
The agency said it's focused on improving mental health services within the province, noting the new Mental Health Emergency Department and Short Stay Unit at the QEH.
The statement says Health P.E.I. has already implemented some changes, including updated bed check procedures and the wider use of community health records to let health-care professionals see what a patient has been through over time. And the agency said changes to patient washrooms will be complete by December 2024.
But Health P.E.I. acknowledges there's still a lot of work to be done.
"We would like to apologize to Ms. Arsenault's family on behalf of Health P.E.I.," said the statement. "No words can express the pain you have experienced."
'You never knew she was fighting'
As for the Arsenaults, they say nothing will bring back their mother, but they are remembering her as a strong woman who would do anything for others, even amid her own mental health challenges.
"She loved her grandchildren, she loved to dance, she had a smile on her face every time you saw her," Derrick Arsenault said. "So that's the thing. You never know. You never knew she was fighting."
Lisa Arsenault said she's hoping to see more funding for folks dealing with mental health issues, especially those who fall through the gaps like her mother did.
"She raised us to love people unconditionally," she said. "She'd take the shirt off her back, and put her own struggles aside to help somebody else going through something."
If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to get help:
- Canada Suicide Prevention Service: Call or text 988.
- Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling on the website.
- Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.
- This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you're worried about.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
with files from Steve Bruce