Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-c4bhq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-10T00:53:38.265Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

One hundred in-patient suicides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

France Proulx ,
Alain D. Lesage  and
Frédéric Grunberg
France Proulx*
Affiliation:
Hôpital Charles LeMoyne, Department of Psychiatry, University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Alain D. Lesage
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Fernand-Seguin Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Frédéric Grunberg
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche Fernand-Seguin Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
*
Dr France Proulx, Hôpital Charles LeMoyne, Department of Psychiatry, 3120 Taschereau Blvd, Greenfield Park, Quebec, Canada J4V 2HI
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

The study aimed to define the characteristics and assess the clinical predictability and possible prevention of psychiatric in-patient suicides.

Method

The coroner's files on all suicides in the Greater Montreal Region from 1 April 1986 to 31 March 1991 were examined. The medical records of each case of suspected in-patient suicide were then reviewed and rated for predictability and preventive measures taken.

Results

A total of 3079 suicides were recorded over this five-year period (mean annual rate of 16.4 per 100 000 inhabitants). Of these, 104 (3.4%) involved hospital in-patients. Nearly half (48%) of these in-patient suicides occurred outside the hospital setting. The methods most frequently employed were hanging (36%) and jumping from high places (24%). Patients suffering from an affective disorder (45%) or schizophrenia (35%) comprised the majority of the sample. Suicides were significantly more predictable in general hospital psychiatric wards. Suicide prevention measures did not differ significantly across settings.

Conclusions

The majority of in-patient suicides were not highly predictable. For highly predictable suicides, the results underline the importance of actively treating and protecting these patients.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 171 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 247 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Copas, J. B. & Robin, A. (1982) Suicide in psychiatric in-patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 503–511.Google Scholar
Crammer, J. L. (1984) The special characteristics of suicide in hospital in-patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 460–463.Google Scholar
Farberow, N. L. (1981) Suicide prevention in the hospital. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 32, 99–104.Google Scholar
Goh, S. E., Salmons, P. & Whittington, R. M. (1989) Hospital suicides: are there preventable factors? Profile of the psychiatric hospital suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 247–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, H. G. & Priest, P. (1991) Suicide and other unexpected deaths among psychiatric in-patients: the Bristol Confidential Inquiry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 368–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oehmichen, M. & Staak, M. (1988) Suicide in the psychiatric hospital: international trends and medico legal aspects. Acta Medicinae et Socialis, 38, 215–223.Google ScholarPubMed
Perr, I. N. (1985) Suicide litigation and risk management: a review of 32 cases. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, 13, 209–219.Google Scholar
Shapiro, S. & Waltzer, H. (1980) Successful suicides and serious attempts in a general hospital over a 15-year period. General Hospital Psychiatry, 2, 118–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfersdorf, M., Keller, F., Schmidt-Michel, P. O., et al (1988) Are hospital suicides on the increase? A survey of reports on hospital suicides in the psychiatric literature of the 19th and 20th century. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 23, 207–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.