Patricia Hennessey, Nash Campbell coroner inquest continues

The psychiatrist treating Patricia Hennessey in the months before she and her son died in a burning vehicle in western P.E.I. testified at an inquest into the deaths Tuesday.

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The coroner's inquest into the death of Patricia Hennessey and her four-year-old son Nash Campbell, presided over by coroner Dr. Roy Montgomery and a six-member jury, is in its second day in Summerside.

The two died in a vehicle fire in St. Felix, near Tignish, in June 2013. It was ruled a murder-suicide.

The inquest first heard Tuesday from Dr. Susan Stewart, a psychiatrist who was treating Hennessey.

Stewart took over Hennessey's care after a suicide attempt in May 2011. She arranged for admission to Homewood Health Centre in Ontario. In the months following Hennessey's discharge from that facility, Stewart said Hennessey denied further suicidal thoughts.

Stewart said Hennessey was concerned about her son Nash, and was withholding him from visits with his father. Hennessey was worried he was trying to get full custody.

Stewart also described trouble Hennessey was having at work on the switchboard at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Hennessey felt bullied, she said, and she also received a warning from her employer. Her coworkers had complained they were worried about physical retaliation from her.

Stewart said in February 2013 Hennessey was "consumed by the custody issue" sleeping just three to four hours a night.

Last appointment a month before deaths

She last saw Hennessey on May 11, a month before she died. At that time Hennessey denied suicidal thoughts. Stewart gave Hennessey several weeks of prescriptions to reduce dispensing fees because Hennessey told her she was having money problems.

While noting she is not a toxicologist, Stewart said she doesn't believe the levels of three drugs in Hennessey's system when she died would cause fatal overdose. Stewart confirmed the three drugs found in autopsy on Hennessey were all ones she prescribed.

Hennessey had a follow-up appointment with Stewart scheduled for June 29, but Hennessey died on June 21.

Due to patient confidentiality, Stewart told the inquest she couldn't share details on Hennessey's health with other agencies, and she doesn't always get information from police on prior records of her patients.

Stewart told the inquest since Hennessey and her son died, she has changed the way she deals with child and family services. She now insists on meeting with child and family services seeing patients on her unit at the QEH.

She said face-to-face meetings with a child and family services worker would have been helpful in this case, but said she did not ask for one nor was she asked for one.

Addressing the safety of four-year-old Nash Campbell, Stewart said she felt "Nash didn't have a voice" in what was going on. She suggested children have a lawyer or advocate so they do have a voice in custody cases, and also home visits in all child and family cases.

The first day of the inquest Monday heard from witnesses who discovered the fire, first responders and RCMP who said there were nearly 40 police reports involving Nash Campbell's parents.

Lawyers for the province and for a witness made arguments for a publication ban at the inquest, which was denied.