San Diego

State health officials are reviewing the case of a San Diego man who committed suicide less than 24 hours after he was treated at the county’s mental health hospital in Hillcrest.

Fred DiCarlo, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Services’ San Diego office, said the department’s licensing and certification division would investigate the examination and treatment of Jeffrey Tomlinson, a 29-year-old Allied Gardens man who shot himself in the chest Sunday afternoon. Tomlinson received medication at CMH, as the county hospital is known, on Saturday, according to his mother, Eileen Tomlinson.

Chuck Harper, deputy director of the state Department of Mental Health, said the department will review Tomlinson’s case with county health officials in Sacramento this week as part of an ongoing examination of the quality of care and administration at CMH.

“We don’t have enough of the facts to have an idea if anyone could have done anything differently in this case,” Harper said. “That’s a very hard thing to call.”

County officials on Wednesday denied earlier reports that Tomlinson had been refused admission to CMH.

“He went there strictly for medication,” County Coroner David Stark said. “He was not exhibiting any unusual signs of behavior. He did not seek admission and he was not rejected.”