AN independent review is to be launched into the care of a father-of-two who committed suicide following years of depression.
Mike Ritson (64) was found hanged in his garage at his home in St Brelade on 1 March. At an inquest last month his wife, Jackie Ritson, blamed consultant psychiatrist Dr John Sharkey for the death, claiming that he failed to treat her husband’s condition correctly or recognise the severity of his illness, and was reluctant to detain him in hospital.
Now the General Hospital’s Mental Health Service will launch a review into Mr Ritson’s treatment. Mrs Ritson (49) has urged the Hospital to ensure that any review of the case is completely independent. She said: ‘I am so desperate to get an inquiry. I feel very sad because I feel that Mike was let down. He was crying out for help and he died a man who was not believed.
Mrs Ritson said that her husband eventually became frightened of Dr Sharkey, and his condition only improved when he was briefly placed under the care of another consultant psychiatrist, Dr Gil Blackwood. (Dr Blackwood has also called for an independent review (letters).
Ian Dyer, directorate manager of Mental Health Services, said that a review undertaken before Mr Ritson’s death found that Dr Sharkey was a ‘good clinician’. He also stressed that Dr Sharkey has never been officially blamed for Mr Ritson’s death, or criticised for any part of his treatment. He confirmed that an independent review into the treatment, which ‘is likely to involve a consultant from the UK’, would be launched.
• Picture: Mrs Ritson
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