Inquest jury 'nailed' recommendations, says mom of woman who died by suicide in psych unit

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

Some of the details were difficult to hear, but a Charlotte County mother is pleased with the results of a coroner's inquest into the death of her daughter in the secure psychiatric unit of the Saint John Regional Hospital. 

"I think we can let my girl rest in peace now," Patty Borthwick told the five members of the coroner's jury on Wednesday afternoon after they delivered 11 recommendations to try to prevent similar deaths. 

Hillary Hooper, 27, was a patient in the psychiatric unit after trying to end her life on Nov. 13, 2020. After 19 days in 4D North, Hooper hanged herself in the bathroom of her room. She spent a week on life support, before her family made the decision to remove her on Dec. 9, 2020. 

The jury recommended that the psychiatric unit use "bedding that tears easily and will not support a person's weight."

It also recommended that the hospital consider installing security cameras in patient rooms, and that patients be searched for "potential weapons, drugs, mobile phone, etc." before they're admitted to 4D North. 

Other recommendations included increasing staffing overnight, positioning a "code blue crash cart" on 4D North, and implementing a "short-stay unit" at the Regional that would include a special therapy component — something that was recommended in Hooper's case but not provided while she was a patient. 

Presiding coroner Emily Caissy added an additional four recommendations to the jury's list, including that Horizon Health Network provide information to physicians "on local resources available for people with borderline personality disorder."

She also recommended the Department of Justice and Public Safety "support the office of the chief coroner in establishing a suicide fatality review committee." 

After the jury foreperson read out their 11 recommendations, Borthwick was given an opportunity to address the five-member panel. She thanked them and told them they "got everything right" and "nailed" the recommendations.

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Borthwick said she was grateful to jurors.

"They got everything that we wanted to get, you know, the doors, the bedding — all the things that should make it impossible for someone to do what she did again," said Borthwick. 

Her final message was for officials with Horizon Health to put themselves in the position of a grieving parent desperate for answers about how and why their child died while in the health-care system. 

"As a mom — anyone that has kids — they want to know what happened to their child, right? … It might not be important to anyone else. What was she wearing? What did she eat? How was her hair? But it was important to me, and although it was very hard to hear what happened, I needed to know what happened. I needed to find out the actual truth."