KEY POINTS:
Brenda Moore is the third patient having residential treatment for depression to commit suicide in the past three months.
Family members in all cases claim treatment has been bungled and the psychiatric services responsible are in disarray.
Wellington's Capital and Coast District Health Board is under the spotlight over the deaths of legal executive Janine Fraser, 25, and IT consultant Finn Higgins, 26. Fraser's request to stay in care was refused and a day later she was found dead. Psychiatric doctors treating Higgins made mistakes trying to get him into care and his body was found by police after he went missing.
During one three-hour period, Higgins' girlfriend rang the board's Crisis and Assessment Treatment Team twice and asked them to pick him up, but no one came.
His mother, who asked not to be named, is also concerned doctors can section a patient even if they and their family oppose it. That happened in her son's case and she fears it was a factor in his death. "The prospect of detention caused Finn great distress. I understood that and presented the team with an alternative arrangement for support that would not involve the police and removing Finn by force. It was refused," she said.
She thought Finn would be safe until she could support him, but now feels that was "a delusion". "We were failed by the CATT team."
