Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice has disclosed a disturbing story of how a suicidal man was allegedly denied admission to the psychiatric unit at Roscommon Hospital and instead had to go to a private hospital in Dublin.
He relayed details of the incident to Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch in the Dáil.
“I spent three hours one night trying to get a person who was going to commit suicide into the hospital,” Deputy Fitzmaurice said. “The guy was giving up. “They rang Roscommon Hospital and they had no room. And it ended up the man had to be brought to St Patrick’s Hospital in Dublin. It was disgraceful.”
The patient’s family footed the bill for his two-week stay in the hospital. Deputy Fitzmaurice believes this incident is an example of the crisis that exists in the mental service locally.
“What is going on it intolerable,” he said. “Senior people in authority in the areas of Roscommon and east Galway are basically giving the two fingers to the ordinary people.”
