Charlotte Davies acted for the Local Authority during a four-day inquest at Exeter Coroner's Court before Alison Longhorn, the Area Coroner for Devon, Plymouth & Torbay.
The inquest touched on the death of a young woman who had been heavily involved with mental health services since childhood, and who had been discharged into supported living following a ten-month long detention under the Mental Health Act shortly before her death.
In the five-week period between her discharge and her death, the woman was subject to eight Mental Health Act assessments and presented at the emergency department on almost twenty occasions. The evidence of the treating clinicians however was that, due to her particular diagnosis, detention in hospital had not been helpful to her, was in fact likely to be harmful and setback her recovery, and that her risk level had remained unchanged. She was not sectioned following a further Mental Health Act assessment in the hours before her death, a decision which the Coroner found to be "not unreasonable" given the evidence. She found that it would be wrong to conclude an admission to hospital would have prevented her death, given serious self-harm incidents had continued during her previous admission.
The Coroner further found that her supported living accommodation was a suitable placement, being the most intensive of its kind for those being discharged from hospital. The court heard evidence that the deceased liked living there. The deceased had also been complimentary about the support she had been receiving from numerous mental health teams in the community.
Devon County Council's involvement arose from the fact that the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) who undertook the final MHAA,alongside two doctors, was employed by the Local Authority.
The Area Coroner returned a short narrative conclusion that the deceased died as a consequence of her own actions, but her intention to take her own life remained unclear.
Charlotte has a specialist inquest practice, having appeared in numerous multi-day hearings representing all types of interested parties, including Article 2 and jury inquests. She has appeared in a number of inquests reported in the national press, including those involving Leading Counsel. Charlotte has written a series of articles on inquest basics which can be found on our website and on LinkedIn.
If you wish to discuss anything in this article or you want to instruct Charlotte you can contact her clerk on jamie@kbgchambers.co.uk.
