The parents of a Canadian woman have spoken out months after she froze to death in the street during a mental health crisis following her early dismissal from hospital.
Irina and Mike Andriychuk have criticised the Nova Scotia mental health system after the death of their 32-year-old daughter Yuliya on 14 November 2022, Global News reported. The grieving parents said that Yuliya, a psychology student, was repeatedly and prematurely discharged from mental health facilities in the province without medication and follow-up appointments.
“We’re are very frustrated with the system and very angry,” Ms Andriychuk told Global News in an exclusive interview. “We lost our daughter to, actually, a terrible health system.”
Yuliya died from hypothermia after wandering in the streets of Dartmouth in freezing temperatures. She had been discharged from an ER after a crisis a week and a half before the tragedy and had just found out that one of her appointments had been cancelled.
Ms Andriychuk told the outlet that they had previously filed several complaints with hospitals and clinics alleging staff failed to consistently provide adequate treatment to Yuliya since the onset of her condition in 2020.
After Yuliya first exhibited signs of mental health distress two years ago, she spent two weeks at the QEII’s Abbie J Lane Memorial Building before she was discharged by staff who allegedly didn’t notify her parents.
For the first months, Yuliya was supervised by her family at all times, with her father even taking her to work with him, according to Global News. She was taken to the hospital again in October 2021 after suffering a second mental health episode.
“After three days the hospital called us and said they lost our daughter,” Ms Andriychuk told the outlet. “We were in shock. How is this possible.”
After writing a complaint, Yuliya briefly received the medication and care her parents had demanded. She spent a month at the facility and was allowed to visit her parents for the weekend.
Yuliya later told her parents that upon returning, she found out another patient had taken her bed.
The Andriychuks again took Yuliya under their care to ensure that she was not in any danger.
They say Yuliya was showing signs of improvement for the first half of 2022 before she had another crisis in November. After spending three days in an emergency room, Yuliya was discharged despite her parents’ pleas.
Yuliya reportedly told the doctor that her medication was not working, and she hadn’t slept in five days.
“She was in a very bad state, you could see it on her face. She didn’t want to talk,” Ms Andriychuk told Global News about a conversation she had with Yulliya during a video call a week and a half after she was discharged from the ER. “She left home and we never saw her back.”
Yuliya reportedly told her parents a mental health appointment had been cancelled. Her body was found the next day.
The Andriychuks have written a letter to Nova Scotia Health Minister Michelle Thompson demanding that mental health care be improved so a similar tragedy does not happen again. They said that their daughter could have lived a happy life with the help of medication, but the broken system failed her.
A review is now underway by health authorities
