Orlaith Quinn: Inquest hears on-call medic not told of tragic mum’s diagnosis

It emerged during the fourth day of the inquest into the tragedy that no efforts were made to revive Mrs Quinn, who died by suicide hours after a psychiatrist at the hospital said she was not a danger to herself.

The inquest has heard the mum-of-three took her own life in the early hours of October 11, 2018, after admitting to family and staff the previous afternoon that she had tried to take her own life while heavily pregnant.

She underwent a mental health assessment and psychiatrist Dr Bob Boggs said he believed she was suffering from obsessional neurosis. However, he said he could not rule out postpartum psychosis as she had given birth less than two days earlier.

Despite this, he did not recommend that Mrs Quinn, a civil servant from Dunmurry, should receive one-to-one observation or be transferred to a psychiatric ward. 

The care plan he drew up advised she be nursed in a low stimulus environment and that she should be reviewed again the following day.

Appearing at the inquest yesterday, the senior house officer (SHO) on call when Mrs Quinn went missing and who pronounced her dead said he was made aware at the beginning of his shift that she “had disclosed to maternity staff that she had attempted suicide on October 5, 2018”.

The medic said he was told she had been reviewed by the psychiatric liaison team that afternoon and was due to undergo a review the following day.

Responding to a question from counsel for the coroner Mark Reel, he said it was not his role to “analyse or consider” the care plan for Mrs Quinn. “My role as SHO on call is to attend and carry out any tasks required for each patient.” 

He agreed with solicitor Patrick Mullarkey, representing the Quinn family, that he was not “told anything about the diagnosis that had been reached”. He also told the court he “was not aware” of the differential diagnosis of postpartum psychosis.

“If someone is given a differential diagnosis of a number of conditions, does that mean they are all a possibility at that point?” asked Mr Mullarkey, to which the doctor replied: “Yes.”

He also said postpartum psychosis is an emergency from a psychiatric point of view and agreed “it would be useful” for medical staff caring for a patient to know they had a differential diagnosis of postpartum psychosis.

The inquest continues today at Laganside Courts.

If you, or anyone close to you, have been affected by any issues in this article, please contact the Samaritans free on 116123 or Lifeline on 080 8808 8000.