A Quebec coroner says the province's Health Department do more to involve friends and family members in the treatment of people suffering from mental health issues and addictions in order to prevent suicides. A nurse is silhouetted behind a glass panel as she tends to a patient in the Intensive Care Unit at an Ontario hospital, Tuesday, January 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
MONTREAL – A Quebec coroner says the province’s Health Department should do more to involve friends and family members in the treatment of people suffering from mental health issues and addictions in order to prevent suicides.
Coroner Julie-Kim Godin says that consent forms used in the health-care system should be changed to ask people whether they agree to have their medical information shared with loved ones, who she says often want to help but are frequently shut out of the treatment process.
The recommendation is one of 63 directed at the Health Department, regional health authorities, police and other organizations in a wide-ranging report on suicides in the province.
Godin investigated five suicides in a public inquest that was called in 2019.
Godin says all five individuals expressed suicidal ideas before taking their own lives, and there were often missed opportunities for better treatment.
She says the provincial government should also review the legal framework around the sharing of confidential medical information between health and social services professionals.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2023.
