My 30-year old schizophrenic brother died last Sunday, and he may have killed himself. I'm hoping someone here might have some insight into the schizophrenic mind and be able to help shed some light on whether he really intended to die or not. He lived at home with my parents, and our mother had been sick for a few months, and was finally diagnosed with terminal lung cancer about a month before both she and my brother died on the same day. We were so caught up in caring for my mom, we didn't pay enough attention to Ray. Mom was in the hospital for about 7-8 weeks before she died, and we were staying with her around the clock. There were plenty of people staying at the house, too, but no one seemed to notice any problems with Ray.
Ray visited Mom in the hospital one night that week, can't remember which one. He apparently, around the same time, walked to the store and purchased a carton of cigarettes and seven bottles of St. Joseph's childrens aspirin, all the stock the store had left. We found it all, including the receipt, in his room the day after he died, three of the bottles empty. Someone heard him using a blender late at night, not unusual, maybe making a smoothie. The next day, he was having difficulty breathing and complaining of chest pains, but refused to see a doctor. The next morning, he was worse, and the social workers helped convince him to go to the emergency room. Dad was with him in the ER when mom died. My two sisters stayed with him the rest of the day.
He wasn't happy about being in the hospital. Had a lot of fears of hospitals after being committed too many tiimes. He was a difficult patient, but accepted treatment after some coaxing. They thought he had a pulmonary embolism at first, and gave him heparin. Then they diagnosed pneumonia, and gave him breathing treatments and IV antibiotics. He kept getting worse. He accepted the annointing of the sick from our parish priest. When asked by my sister if he had taken any other medicines, even Sudafed, he said no. When the doctor finallly wanted to put him on a respirator, he acquiesced, but expressed concern about how he was going to be able to eat while on a respirator. His meds had made him extremely hungry and gain a lot of weight over the last 18 months.
They gave him paralyzing drugs, and went to suction muccus from his traches, and he started bleeding like crazy from the suction machine. They tried to get the tube down, but blood started coming from everywhere. He finally went into cardiac arrest from lack of oxygen. They tried a tracheotomy, but again blood everywhere. They couldn't revive him. He died that night, about 10 hours after my mother.
Do you think he purposely killed himself? He had made only one other suicide attempt, about two years ago when he was in a mental institution for about a year, and refusing medication. He grabbed a bottle of bleach off the housekeeping cart and tried to swallow some. He didn't get enough to do any damage.
Could it be that he was trying to treat himself for the chest pains, and overdid the aspirin to that extent? I looked on his computer, and he hadn't gone to any medical or suicide websites. Why would he have chosen this method to kill himself? It seems like an awful way to go. By accepting treatment, could he have maybe changed his mind? But then, why not disclose that he had taken so much aspirin?
The doctor said that the aspirin would explain his symptoms, but that he didn't test positive for acidosis. After his death, his lungs were almost completely full of serum. Could he have just done something completely impulsive because of the schizophrenia, not meaning to kill himself? I know we can't really know what went on in his mind, but I need some insight. I can't let it rest. I know we would have been alert to suicidal impulses after mom passed, but we never expected him to do something like that before she passed.
Thanks for putting up with this long post.
Ray visited Mom in the hospital one night that week, can't remember which one. He apparently, around the same time, walked to the store and purchased a carton of cigarettes and seven bottles of St. Joseph's childrens aspirin, all the stock the store had left. We found it all, including the receipt, in his room the day after he died, three of the bottles empty. Someone heard him using a blender late at night, not unusual, maybe making a smoothie. The next day, he was having difficulty breathing and complaining of chest pains, but refused to see a doctor. The next morning, he was worse, and the social workers helped convince him to go to the emergency room. Dad was with him in the ER when mom died. My two sisters stayed with him the rest of the day.
He wasn't happy about being in the hospital. Had a lot of fears of hospitals after being committed too many tiimes. He was a difficult patient, but accepted treatment after some coaxing. They thought he had a pulmonary embolism at first, and gave him heparin. Then they diagnosed pneumonia, and gave him breathing treatments and IV antibiotics. He kept getting worse. He accepted the annointing of the sick from our parish priest. When asked by my sister if he had taken any other medicines, even Sudafed, he said no. When the doctor finallly wanted to put him on a respirator, he acquiesced, but expressed concern about how he was going to be able to eat while on a respirator. His meds had made him extremely hungry and gain a lot of weight over the last 18 months.
They gave him paralyzing drugs, and went to suction muccus from his traches, and he started bleeding like crazy from the suction machine. They tried to get the tube down, but blood started coming from everywhere. He finally went into cardiac arrest from lack of oxygen. They tried a tracheotomy, but again blood everywhere. They couldn't revive him. He died that night, about 10 hours after my mother.
Do you think he purposely killed himself? He had made only one other suicide attempt, about two years ago when he was in a mental institution for about a year, and refusing medication. He grabbed a bottle of bleach off the housekeeping cart and tried to swallow some. He didn't get enough to do any damage.
Could it be that he was trying to treat himself for the chest pains, and overdid the aspirin to that extent? I looked on his computer, and he hadn't gone to any medical or suicide websites. Why would he have chosen this method to kill himself? It seems like an awful way to go. By accepting treatment, could he have maybe changed his mind? But then, why not disclose that he had taken so much aspirin?
The doctor said that the aspirin would explain his symptoms, but that he didn't test positive for acidosis. After his death, his lungs were almost completely full of serum. Could he have just done something completely impulsive because of the schizophrenia, not meaning to kill himself? I know we can't really know what went on in his mind, but I need some insight. I can't let it rest. I know we would have been alert to suicidal impulses after mom passed, but we never expected him to do something like that before she passed.
Thanks for putting up with this long post.