Monash Health pleads guilty over patient's death
The father of a woman admitted to a Melbourne mental health unit says he feels like he is in a "living nightmare" after the hospital failed to prevent his daughter's death.
Monash Health pleaded guilty to contravening health and safety legislation in the County Court of Victoria on Monday after Rebecca Victoria Poke died by suicide at Casey Hospital in September 2015.
Ms Poke was involuntarily admitted to the hospital's mental health inpatient unit in May that year, and was taken off a compulsory treatment order but still deemed at high risk of self-harm by the time she died.
The hospital audited the suicide risk to patients in the unit in April 2015 and flagged a bathroom as a potential concern but did nothing to eliminate the risk, prosecutor Duncan Chisholm told the court.
Nurses later found Ms Poke unresponsive in that bathroom on August 31.
"At the time of the incident, the risk and measures available to control the risk were well known within the industry," Mr Chisholm said.
Ms Poke's father Shane Middleton said he was forced to take a long time off work to deal with her senseless and unnecessary loss, and felt like he was in a living nightmare since she died.
He feared for her twin sister and felt his life was a debt-burdened "disaster" after Ms Poke's death, which led to the breakdown of his marriage, he said.
"I feel like I am in a continual battle for survival," Mr Middleton said in a statement read to the court.
Ms Poke's brother Cameron Middleton said his anger was initially misdirected as his sister.
He missed out on the opportunity to tell her he loved her and would treasure their memories while she was still in a coma, he said.
"Instead I asked her why she would do this to me and left without saying what I should have," Cameron Middleton said in his statement.
"This grief follows me everywhere I go. It sits there silently in the corner of my mind, waiting for me to lower my guard."
He had since become angry at the hospital and relived his sister's death over and over, he said.
Ms Poke's brother ended his statement with a poem, which read: "I know I caused you sadness; I know I caused you pain; but I was captured by these demons; they wouldn't set me free again.
"One day you will all forgive me; one day you will understand; and when your time on Earth is done; I will be waiting to take your hand."
Judge Gerard Mullaly will sentence Monash Health on May 16 for failing to ensure people other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks.
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