KEY POINTS:
It took just two years for P and alcohol addiction to seriously affect Thomas Whatuira's mind.
The dedicated father and business management graduate planned to start a computer company, but a chance offering of P at a party in 2004 sent his life down a different path.
Last July he became so depressed he was committed under the Mental Health Act. While in care, the 33-year-old wrote poems describing himself as a "monster" and "evil".
Sadly, he never got the chance to recover. He committed suicide on August 17 at Auckland District Health Board's acute mental health inpatient unit, Te Whetu Tawera.
The care provided to him and three other patients, including alleged murderer Matthew Ahlquist, has been slammed in an external review.
The board has publicly apologised to the families of all four patients and is implementing a raft of changes.
Now Whatuira's former partner, Sarah Henderson, the mother of their two young boys, has spoken for the first time, hoping lessons can be learned from his death and medical help improved.
The 31-year-old Auckland University student also wants to show how the highly-addictive drug ruins lives.
"P created havoc with Thomas' mind. It drove him to suicide. That's the crux of it. It's a dangerous, dangerous drug," she said.
Henderson does not plan to sue the health board, but wants it to become better equipped to treat similar patients in the future.
"They didn't seem to be trying to get Thomas well. It was just like he hung out there [in hospital]. They didn't seem to know how to deal with the P issue at all."
Auckland health board adult mental health services clinical adviser Dr Allen Fraser accepted more could be done for such patients.
He said patients needed to feel included in society and gain self-worth through paid or voluntary work, quality living arrangements and social support networks.
Henderson also backs calls for the Government to order a national inquiry into mental health treatment after a string of patient suicides in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.
The campaign is led by nurse Sally Fisher, whose son Shane also died while in Auckland health board care. A spokeswoman for Health Minister David Cunliffe said he was looking at the idea and took the issue extremely seriously.
Although Henderson was upset she learned of the board's inquiry into Whatuira's death through a newspaper article in February, communications had improved and she welcomed their apology.
She now awaits answers to a list of questions, including what happened to a doctor involved in the care of Whatuira and Shane Fisher.
Henderson and members of Whatuira's family will meet health board representatives in June to discuss issues, including her request for help with a commemorative plaque and counselling for the couple's children.
Henderson said she would never forget the day she told the 8- and 11-year-old boys they were fatherless. Her oldest guessed the worst when she said she had sad news.
"I felt my son's heart break. He was in my arms and he sort of jolted.
"He told me it was like his heart had been ripped into two pieces and it had jagged edges."
Their only comfort now are a "thousand photographs" of their "wonderful dad". Henderson said the father of her children had tried hard to kick his P addiction for months before he died, but the drug had too much of a hold.
To contact Sally Fisher, email sally.fisher@live.com
