Hanging tragedy after drug switch

A patient whose health deteriorated rapidly following changes in treatment, hanged himself, an Oldham inquest heard yesterday.

David Nash (34), of Haweswater Mews, Middleton, was found dead in a shower cubicle in his room at Parklands House Mental Health Unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

But Mr Nash’s mother Barbara Nash, of Heywood, said David had done well on regular injections of Depixol, given by a community nurse at his home before the drug was substituted.

She said he suffered a stressful time when his disability allowance was stopped but later reinstated.

He started to become ill and other medicine was substituted for regular Depixol dose, and his health gradually worsened.

Mrs Nash said in cross-examination by the family’s solicitor Mark McGhee that, after the changes in his medication, he needed emergency treatment at the Royal Oldham Hospital and at Cheadle Royal Hospital. He later returned to the Royal Oldham Hospital when a bed became free.

David was found dead in his room on August 8, 2004.

Earlier the inquest heard from Mrs Nash that she learned of her son’s death in a routine call to the hospital the next morning.

Mr John Sharples, barrister for the Pennine Care NHS Trust, said the way Mrs Nash was informed of her son’s death was unacceptable to them.

Mrs Nash said her son was a keen snooker player. He was bright, outgoing and friendly.

But around the age of 20, he began to behave strangely and this led to him being diagnosed as schizophrenic.

Her son was not working around the time of his last hospital admission, but he was engaged to be married, she said.

Dr Benjamin Green, consultant psychiatrist at Cheadle Royal Hospital said David was starting to have hallucinations and said he was hearing voices telling him to commit suicide.

Under cross-examination by Mr McMcGhee, Dr Green said someone with David’s condition might well become ill again if Depo injections, as they were termed, were stopped.

The inquest continues.