Miriam Merten death leads to complete overhaul of NSW’s mental health system

HOSPITALS will be audited, mental health laws overhauled and victims given the chance to tell their horror stories as part of the inquiry into primitive patient seclusion rooms and restraints across NSW.

• SECLUSION ROOM ONLY DECOMMISSIONED IN MARCH
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HOSPITALS will be audited, mental health laws overhauled and victims given the chance to tell their horror stories as part of the inquiry into primitive patient seclusion rooms and restraints across NSW.

It comes after The Daily Telegraph unearthed “appalling” CCTV footage of mother-of-two Miriam Merten dying from brain injuries after being dumped drugged and naked in a tiny seclusion room for hours at Lismore Base Hospital.

Ms Merten fell and hit her head at least 20 times in seclusion. Health Minister Brad Hazzard ordered a parliamentary inquiry into the mental health system after the revelations, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull so horrified he rang the NSW government to make sure the scandal was being treated seriously.

Mental health patient Miriam Merten staggering up and down the hospital corridor for more than hour covered in faeces and blood while the two nurses on duty mopped the floor.

Mr Hazzard also launched an investigation by Chief Psychiatrist Murray Wright into the use of seclusion rooms.

Mental Health Minister Tanya Davies yesterday released the terms of reference for that review. She said Dr Wright would be backed by an expert panel, including Australian Mental Health Commission commissioner Jackie Crowe and NSW Mental Health Commission deputy commissioner Robyn Shields.

Miriam was admitted to Lismore Base Hospital in 2014 due to concerns over her mental health.

Miriam Merten locked in a seclusion room, where she hit her head more than 20 times and died from an acquired brain injury.

The review would include hospital site visits, analysing patient cases, overhauling current laws and policies, a call for written submissions and “face-to-face consultations with key stakeholders”. It would also “make a recommendation on a pathway for the reduction of seclusion and restraint practices in NSW”. “What happened to Ms Merten, and the pain her family is going through, is inconceivable,” Ms Davies said.

“That is why no stone will be left unturned.”

The review team will “provide a final report and recommendations” by early December.

NSW Mental Health Commissioner John Feneley said that he would do everything in his power to ensure the ­review honoured Ms Merten’s memory.

Lismore Base Hospital. Picture: Luke Marsden

He said that the use of seclusion in mental health units was traumatising and counter-therapeutic.

After her death, a court heard Ms Merten had been thrown in seclusion more than 100 times.

“These practices may be partly a result of inadequate resourcing, if nurses are not able to give appropriate attention to a person to help them feel safe and to reduce their distress,” he said.

“They may also be a result of poor culture, in which people’s distress is ignored or discounted. Neither explanation is acceptable.”