Inquest Underway Into Staff Who Ignored Dying Bipolar Woman
On March 29th, Krystyna Szalajko, aged 59, died on the floor of her room at a residential apartment complex run by Suffolk Mind in Cambridgeshire, England. She had often lain prone in what staff called “attention-seeking behavior.” Ms Szalajko had bipolar disorder and personality disorders. When two care workers found her, breathing heavily on the floor of her apartment, they did not return for twenty minutes, at which time Ms. Szalajko had stopped breathing and was later pronounced dead. The two workers who found her were exonerated by police and the death was ruled to have occurred by natural causes, though an inquest is currently taking place about the death. More information about the story can be found in this article from Cambridge News.
Commentary
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Attention-seeking behavior was almost certainly a symptom or consequence of Ms. Szalajko’s mental illnesses. Effectively, what Suffolk Mind is admitting is that they don’t have any effective protocol to deal with attention-seeking patients who may have genuine medical emergencies.
Joanne Searle, the chief executive of Suffolk Mind said, “This is a case of the boy who cried wolf.” This analogy is inaccurate and its mocking nature seems inappropriate. Attention-seeking is a common symptom of some mental illnesses, and care givers have a responsibility to develop methods of dealing with medical emergencies among all of the mentally ill, irrespective of their symptoms.
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