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A Survey of Unexpected Deaths among Psychiatric In-Patients and Ex-Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Susan Shaw  and
Andrew Sims
Susan Shaw
Affiliation:
Stanley Royd Hospital, Wakefield, W. Yorkshire
Andrew Sims
Affiliation:
St. James's University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF
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Extract

The foundation of charitable institutions for the care of the mentally ill began towards the end of the eighteenth century as a result of concern amongst the articulate for the disadvantaged in society. It was not long before this same concern was again aroused; this time at the high death rate within many of these asylums. In the case of the York Asylum, which was the subject of a Parliamentary Select Committee in 1815, this was found to be due to poor conditions (Digby, 1983). Recently the Royal College of Psychiatrists has focussed attention on the continuing problem of patients who kill themselves while receiving treatment in hospital (Crammer, 1983). Particular attention was drawn to the reluctance of psychiatrists and those around them to examine the events leading to death; this compares unfavourably with the attitudes of anaesthetists and obstetricians, who have an established procedure for confidential inquiries into unexpected deaths.

Type
Symposium on Suicide in Hospital
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 145 , Issue 5 , November 1984 , pp. 473 - 476
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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