The bereaved father of a 37-year-old man who took his own life in the middle of mental health difficulties has called for a system to alert families when prescription drugs are recommended so that they will know what hazards are attached to them. The appeal by the father, Kevin Stanley, was made at an inquest in front of a jury in Trim enquiring into the death of Alan Stanley in an incident involving a train near the old Mosney station in East Meath last year.
The man had been prescribed SSRI, a class of antidepressants that work by increasing serotonin levels in the brain to treat conditions like depression and anxiety. The drugs can help to balance serotonin levels which can be low in people with depression. The inquest conducted by Coroner for Meath Nathaniel Lacy heard from consultant pathologist Professor Muna Sabah that the deceased had suffered multiple injuries. Toxicology tests showed that he had no alcohol in his system but had multiple medications. As a result of her post mortem she concluded that the deceased had died from cranial and multi-organ injuries.
A deposition by Garda Enda Keogh, read to the inquest by Inspector Alan Roughneen , stated that he and a colleague were called to a location near the old Mosney train station where a person had been struck by a train. He spoke to a train driver there who informed him of an incident and had contacted emergency services. The Garda said he advanced down the track in the company of advance paramedic Fiona Guildea and they had come across the body of a man. The coroner was contacted and gave permission for the body to be removed from the scene to Navan mortuary. They met the father of the deceased who told them his son was missing from his home in East Meath.
The father of the deceased said the family had questions about “the overall duty of care” to their relative. The coroner replied that he was precluded by a section of the Coroners Act from investigating matters of criminal or civil liability. The father said his son was very excited to be going under the care of a psychiatrist and not a doctor “and he was very disappointed and a day and a half later he took his life”.
He said the family never knew about dangers attached to SSRIs whereas people in America “get a big black notice telling next of kin that”.
“We didn’t know SSRI had a danger”. He said that his son had “got a lot of attention but nobody took him in”.
“There were so many dots that were not joined together, in our opinion.” The coroner said he could make a recommendation to the jury that when a patient is referred onwards to a psychiatrist that their family is warned about the possibility of the dangers attached to antidepressant medication. The father replied that the family felt that, specifically for SSRI, a concerned person should be appointed and advised of the potential consequences of that medication. “You need a third party”. The inquest jury returned a verdict that the man’s death had been self-inflicted but added the recommendation suggested by the family of the deceased. Mr Lacy said he would forward that recommendation to the Hse and the Department of Health.
He hoped that that would help prevent similar deaths in the future. The coroner, along with Inspector Roughneen and solicitor Gerard O’Herlihy on behalf of the train driver and Irish Rail extended their condolences to the family of the deceased.
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