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A psychiatric hospital ward.
Monday, 1 September 2014 - 07:49
MPs want investigation psych clinic after deaths
State Secretary of Security and Justice Fred Teeven has asked Healthcare Inspection (IGZ) to launch an investigation into involuntary psychiatric treatment (TBS) facility De Rooyse Wissel in Venray. This comes after the clinic experienced three deaths in one week, a spokesperson for the Ministry announces.
The EO program This is the Day (Dit is de Dag, DIDD) was the first to report of the deaths on Saturday. The deaths have already been reported to the IGZ. On Tuesday night, a TBS patient died of a gastric hemorrhage in his room. The next day, a 45-year-old patient died of a heart attack, and another patient committed suicide on Friday.
Despite the statement from DIDD that these three deaths in three days at the clinic stand in stark contrast to the official figures of one death per year at the clinic, MPs from the SP, CDA and D66 are still adamant that the clinic requires investigation. MP Nine Kooiman from SP said "three deaths in such a short time is shocking and worrying. There must be an investigation. And with that we do not mean one pre-announced inspection visit, but fast, unexpected and thorough."
De Rooyse Wissel came under scrutiny earlier this year when it became known that patients at the clinic, behind locked doors, had access to weapons and drugs, and that other patients in the clinic felt unsafe in their daily environment. Now, patients as well as staff are in a state of unrest. One patient tells DIDD that patients do not feel safe "and have many questions about the death of their three co-patients and if the clinic has handled itself well in the face of these incidents. The pressure on the staff is gigantic."
Investigation into the availability of weapons and drugs, among other contraband, in the clinic by Healthcare Inspection and the Inspection for Security and Justice is now complete. The details of this will be sent to Parliament this week.