Mental health system not to blame for woman's suicide Deficiencies in the mental health system were not to blame for the suicide of a 39-year-old woman, a WA coroner has found. Picture: Thinkstock/Commstock Source: Supplied DEFICIENCIES in Western Australia's mental health system were not to blame for the suicide of a 39-year-old woman, a coroner has found. The depressed woman, known only as Ms D, travelled to Mexico and overdosed on drugs in May 2008, dying from septic shock, nosocomial pneumonia and respiratory distress. She had been committed to a hospital in Perth against her will three months earlier, but had been released back into the community. Coroner Evelyn Vickers was investigating whether mental health authorities failed to protect the woman by discharging her. But the coroner concluded today that while the woman's supervision, treatment and care upon release was not optimal, it was due to the systems available for community supervision. "There is nothing to suggest the care provided was below accepted practice at that time," she said. Ms Vickers noted that while the woman's death was a tragedy, the deceased knew how to maintain a facade to comply with treatment. "Every single mental health practitioner involved with the deceased reported she was difficult to engage and evasive, and did not always tell the truth," she said. Ms Vickers did not accept that the woman should have been under constant supervision because it could have made her mental condition worse. The systems in place have to allow for the fact that being constantly under supervision for some patients may be the catalyst, which prevents their ability to recover at all, and so survive in the community. Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.