The mum of a vulnerable woman who committed suicide at a Perth psychiatric unit has branded the investigation into the facility “a joke”.
Tracy Swan’s daughter Jodie McNab died at Murray Royal Hospital in May 2013 after spending five days in a coma. The 22-year-old had been admitted to Murray Royal just nine days before she died.
Earlier this year it was announced that the procurator fiscal had launched a probe into Jodie’s death, along with two others on the secure Moredun ward.
Tracy feels the procurator fiscal has failed to keep the families sufficiently informed of the investigation’s progress.
She said: “I haven’t heard a thing (from them). Whenever I do speak to them they tell me ‘it’s going to be soon, it’s going to be soon’ – that’s all I get. I’m getting fobbed off.
“I don’t think they realise just how much of an impact it has on families when they are waiting for some sort of answers. I realise things take time but this is a joke.
“I can’t understand why it’s taken so long. It’s really frustrating. It plays on my mind the whole time and I feel so angry — a decision should have been made a long time ago and I feel the outcome should be a fatal accident inquiry.
“I can’t get my head round the fact that the boxer Iron Mike, from Dundee, died and within days there’s calls for a fatal accident inquiry and three and a half years down the line (from Jodie’s death) and I’m still no further forward.”
She added: “It’s having an effect on my health, and my mental health as well. It doesn’t help when this has been going on for so long. It has an impact on your family life as well, because you are stressed and you can’t deal with certain things — your life is on pause.”
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “Families will continue to be updated in relation to any developments and we will be happy to discuss any concerns they may have.”
