Man died after hospital restraint (From South Wales Guardian)

Man died after hospital restraint

7:04pm Thursday 9th June 2011 in National News © Press Association 2011

The family of a landscape gardener who died after he was restrained by police in hospital said they hope lessons will be learned in the wake of the death.

Victor Massey, 54, had been receiving treatment for acute pancreatitis at Kings Mill Hospital in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

He died in the early hours of August 8, 2006 after being CS sprayed and restrained by Nottinghamshire Police officers who had been called by hospital staff, Mr Massey's family solicitors said.

At an inquest into his death in Nottingham this week, a jury heard evidence that Mr Massey, who had been on oxygen, had been hallucinating - a known consequence of pancreatitis and of the use of tramadol - believing that he was being watched by the police and that his bedside fan was a police helicopter.

The inquest heard that Mr Massey left his bed shortly before midnight on August 7 and barricaded himself in the shower room off the ward.

Hospital staff called the police again and within seven minutes of arriving the police CS sprayed Mr Massey, broke down the door and dragged him into the corridor where they restrained him. Mr Massey suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while doctors tried to inject him with a sedative.

At the end of an inquest, deputy Nottinghamshire coroner Martin Gotheridge returned a narrative verdict that Mr Massey died of a cardiac arrest following restraint in combination with acute pancreatitis and the use of an opiate painkiller, tramadol.

Speaking after the inquest, Paul Balen, the family's solicitor, said they were desperate lessons were learned from the tragedy. Mr Massey's wife Jane and their three adult children had all been through a "terrible ordeal" over the last five years, he said.

"They are desperate that lessons are learned," Mr Balen said. "There appears to have been a total absence of relevant training and protocols and in their absence no one applied common sense. Medical staff failed to note the hallucinations; appeared to call the police as a first resort and then failed to communicate with them apparently for fear of breaching confidentiality.

"Ignorant of the fact that hinges on hospital doors can be reversed, the police officers almost immediately used CS spray in the confined space of the hospital, broke down the door and then restrained Mr Massey with no knowledge of his medical condition and with total disregard for his safety."