Hospital denied suicidal teen
Two days later she attempted suicide on the ward but was discharged two days on and was found dead near her home the next day.
Hospital denied suicidal teen
Angela Pownall
May 7, 2015, 1:25 am
A father gave harrowing evidence in WA’s Coroner’s Court yesterday about how his suicidal teenage daughter pleaded to stay longer in a WA psychiatric hospital.
Ruby Nicholls-Diver, 18, who was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, went to Fremantle’s Alma Street Clinic on February 26, 2011 because she was feeling increasingly suicidal.
Two days later she attempted suicide on the ward but was discharged two days on and was found dead near her home the next day.
Geoff Diver said his daughter had been “absolutely petrified” of going into an adult psychiatric hospital.
“She took some coaxing to go into Fremantle Hospital and before she left she said ‘these people do not believe me and they don’t care’,” he said. “The message was I’m not strong enough to fight this by myself. If these people have given up on me, I’m bereft of hope.”
Mr Diver, who was in Melbourne, said he told his daughter he was on his way home and asked the hospital not to discharge her.