A wife whose husband hanged himself in hospital after a “failure” to properly monitor him said today: “I thought I left him in the safest place in the world. I want lessons to be learned.”
Rory Magill, 44, was found dead at Hillingdon Hospital, west London, after a member of staff assigned to observe him went on a break.
Coroner Chinyere Inyama concluded Mr Magill took his life in part because he was “not adequately monitored”.
His wife Anita, 43, said she hoped his death would lead to changes in mental health care in hospitals. She said: “It’s too late for Rory, but I don’t want any other family suffering like we have.”
Mr Magill, an electrician from Uxbridge, had been suffering mental health problems in the months leading up to his death on June 13, 2013.
One day, after work, he attempted suicide by swallowing anti-freeze. His wife rushed him to the hospital where doctors told him to drink vodka and strong beer to prevent the anti-freeze from destroying his kidneys and liver.
When visiting hours were over, Mrs Magill said: “I told them to watch him closely because I knew the alcohol would alter his state of mind.”
Mr Magill was assessed by a psychiatric nurse who deemed him to be at risk of suicide and recommended he was placed on one-to-one observation. But when the duty nurse took a break at around 4.40am, no one replaced her and around an hour later he was found hanged in the ward’s day room.
Recording a narrative verdict at the inquest at West London Coroner’s Court, the coroner said there had been a “failure” in Mr Magill’s observation.
A hospital spokesman said: “The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has carried out a thorough investigation... and co-operated fully with the coroner’s enquiry. The Trust would again like to offer sincere condolences to Mr Magill’s family.”
