Camden New Journal - News: Patient ‘may have felt rejected’

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Camden New Journal - by RICHARD OSLEY
Published: 15 November 2007

Patient ‘may have felt rejected’

A WOMAN hanged herself in a psychiatric ward after learning she was to be transferred to a less secure unit.
Doctors believed her condition was improving after years under close observation, an inquest has heard.
Psychiatrist Dr Alan McNaught said Isabella Williams, who was 39 when she died in March last year, had become institutionalised at Fleet Ward, Grove Centre, Hampstead, and could not face the prospect of being prepared for life outside care.
Mrs Williams was discovered by a nurse, hours after being told that she was to be moved to Daleham Gardens – a rehabilitation unit – on account of her recent improved condition.
The inquest heard Mrs Williams, who suffered with borderline personality disorder, had revealed to a visiting medical student that she was looking forward to moving back into her own place having lost her flat when she was sectioned in 2003. She also told him that she was suffering with suicidal delusions.
Dr McNaught told St Pancras Coroner’s Court that Mrs Williams’ revelations to the student six weeks before her death signalled a dramatic improvement in her condition. He said: “She was a very troubled patient who often went weeks without communicating or engaging with anyone. Opening up to the student was significant because she rarely spoke or communicated any feelings.”
Dr McNaught added: “She did not really appreciate how close to death she had been or how well she had become in recent weeks but I do suspect she couldn’t face leaving. She may have felt rejected but the fact that she was due to be moved in two days was highly significant in her taking her life.”
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid recorded a suicide verdict on Mrs Williams, who came to England in 1990 from Montreal.

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