A MUSICIAN'S family who asked for an investigation into his fatal leap
from the Erskine Bridge last year have been denied information about the
outcome.
Guitarist Joseph Doherty was a patient at Gartnavel Royal Hospital in
Glasgow when he told staff a year ago that he was ''going for a walk''.
His body was recovered from the Clyde under the bridge a few hours
later.
Mr Doherty, 30, who lived with his father in Dalmuir, had been
diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia. There had been a series of
incidents since the illness started to develop in 1986.
His brother, Alex Doherty, 37, said yesterday: ''I was instrumental in
getting him admitted under the Mental Health Act because I was afraid
for his safety. He was living in a high-rise flat. I put him in a place
where I thought he would be safe.''
After Mr Doherty's death, his brother asked the Mental Welfare
Commission for Scotland to investigate. They have made inquiries but
have told him and Mr Tony Worthington, his MP, that they cannot make
available the information they have gathered.
Mr Doherty's death is one of two involving Gartnavel patients which
are the subject of fatal accident inquiries opening in Dumbarton today.
Mr Alex Doherty said: ''It all seems a bit ominous. If they have learned
something about Joseph's death it should be aired at the fatal accident
inquiry.''
Mr Worthington, Labour MP for Clydebank and Milngavie, said: ''It
seems ridiculous that a watchdog body can take up a complaint concerning
the quality of treatment of a patient but are under no obligation to let
the complainant know the outcome.''
Dr James Dyer, acting director of the Mental Welfare Commission, said:
''We are not trying to be unhelpful; our remit asks us to make inquiries
and report to the appropriate health board, local authority, or other
body. We take that not to include informing the patient or relatives.
''One reason is that we get our information on the basis that it is
not for public disclosure. One argument could be that people will be
more open with us.
''We may be most effective in taking matters up in confidence and then
letting people know if we are satisfied or not with the result; our
inquiries into this particular case are continuing and we will be asking
for a transcript of the fatal accident inquiry.''
The second inquiry concerns Mr Raymond Pender, 22, from Alexandria,
who went missing in September. His body was recovered from Loch Lomond
after a group of Scouts found his clothes neatly stacked on the bank.
Other suspected suicides being investigated by Mr Worthington and
Dumbarton Labour MP John McFall are those of Mr Joseph Gilmartin, from
Dumbarton, who walked out of Gartnavel and was killed by a bus, a girl
who strangled herself in the hospital, and a woman who was discharged
and was later found dead.
Mr Laurence Peterken, general manager of Greater Glasgow Health Board,
said that eight in-patients of Gartnavel Royal had comitted suicide in
the past seven years.
''No single factor has emerged on a recurring basis to explain these
distressing events,'' he said.
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