Coroner Juan Wolffe this afternoon ruled the death of mentally ill Shandal Richardson as suicide but made several recommendations regarding practises at the Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute where the father-of-three died.

Mr. Richardson was admitted to MWI on March 4, 2008, after trying to stab himself with a knife at his Southampton home.

He was deemed to be a suicide risk by an Emergency Room doctor at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital before being admitted to MWI where he was placed in the acute care Somers’ Annexe.

Initially Mr. Richardson was placed in a room at MWI used for “observation and seclusion”, which only had a bare mattress and a urinal bucket. However, he was moved to a different room before his death. Meanwhile another patient who attacked nurses was put in the seclusion room.

In the early hours of March 5, 2008, he hung himself using bed sheets he attached to his upturned bed.

Mr. Wolffe will deliver a full report of his recommendations to the Minster of Health and MWI head within two weeks but yesterday outlined some of the report.

He recommended that MWI should have more than one seclusion room; there should always be more than one staff member at the Sommers Annex; video equipment in patients’ rooms should always be turned on; and contemporaneous notes on patient care should be completed before the end of a shift.

For the full story read tomorrow’s Royal Gazette.