Changes have been implemented for psychiatric patients at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) thanks to the herculean effort of a Chatham mother whose son died from suicide in April.
Leonie VanPuymbroeck and her husband had a meeting with hospital officials on Tuesday to go over the hospital's review of what happened with her son when he was discharged from the hospital and walked home alone in a "manic" state.
Robert Martin, 26, had a mental illness and was found dead in bed by his mother on April 8, 2022. The family is blaming a CKHA psychiatrist for their son’s suicide.
The family alleges the doctor didn’t provide adequate care for the man and released him from the hospital too early, allowing their son to walk home alone when he was released. The family wants change, so nothing like what happened to Robert happens to someone else.
On Tuesday, much to her surprise, VanPuymbroeck got the answers and promises that she was seeking, saying it's exactly what she was looking for.
She told CK News Today that the hospital gave her a letter promising to tighten up procedures for mental health patients and outlining some standards already in place, including no more phone assessments for outpatients and more in-person and video conference assessments, auto phone reminders to avoid missed appointments, improving the discharging of patients to include better family communication, and improving the way it handles requests by patients for a different psychiatrist.
She said the fact that her son's death was not in vain is very meaningful to the family.
"The meeting went really well. It's going to be great for future patients there. Robert's death has some meaning for us and it means a lot," said VanPuymbroeck. "We were very surprised. I actually thought they were just going to sweep it under the rug and that is not what they did. They took it very seriously and implemented changes."
She also said the hospital is doing an external review of the psychiatrist in question. The College of Physicians and Surgeons has also finished an investigation into the doctor and is turning it over to a complaints committee to go over the findings and make a recommendation, according to VanPuymbroeck.
She said she is not considering legal action and just wants to prevent future tragedies like her own.
CK News Today is not naming the doctor at this time, pending the results of his review and investigation.
VanPuymbroeck said there's no timeline for any of those results, but she hopes they are in by August or September.
She said she has had trouble getting out of bed over the last few days, but Tuesday's news is helping her to keep fighting for her son's legacy.
"We did good today. I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders," VanPuymbroeck said.
CKHA said they take the concerns of the family very seriously and offered sincere condolences to the family.
"Whenever there is an unfortunate outcome such as this, we conduct a “quality review,” a process where all team members involved come together to examine the care a patient received at CKHA with the purpose of improving the quality of our care." wrote CKHA in a statement. "In this case, our recommendations were to implement a system for appointment reminders for patients, a review of the transfer of care process when a request is made for another psychiatrist, a clinical review of the discharge planning process on the inpatient mental health unit, and the discontinuing of phone appointments for mental health patients, which had become necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic."
