Mental Hospital Patient Dies After Ingesting 2 Coins

The Los Angeles County coroner is trying to determine why a 52-year-old patient at Metropolitan State Hospital died last weekend.

The woman was taken from Metropolitan to a Norwalk hospital July 9 after workers discovered that she had ingested two coins, said Joyce Kato, an investigator for the county coroner’s office. The woman died the next morning.

The coroner’s report does not assign a cause of death, pending the results of an autopsy, and it is not known when the woman swallowed the coins.

In February, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that Metropolitan officials often failed to stop patients from hurting themselves or others.

The report also accused some doctors at the mental hospital of being unaware of the side effects of powerful antipsychotic medications and of improperly restraining patients for days or weeks at a time.

Just days after the report was issued, a 42-year-old male patient at Metropolitan hanged himself by wrapping clothing around his neck and tying it to a bar across a window in his room.

Catherine Bernarding, the hospital’s community liaison, confirmed that a female patient at Metropolitan died July 10.

“I believe in this case there were a number of severe physical complications that could have led to death,” Bernarding said. “We have a lot of individuals here who are severely physically ill.”

Bernarding said she could not confirm whether coins were involved in the death.

She said the woman had been committed involuntarily to Metropolitan, but would not say when.

Swallowing coins is usually not harmful, said Dr. Larry Baraff, a UCLA professor of emergency medicine.

“Mental patients are notorious for swallowing things,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll swallow nails or safety pins, but they almost always pass through with no problem. It’s extremely unlikely that swallowing a coin would cause an adult death, but it’s possible.”

The woman apparently had lived or received mail at several residences in the Bakersfield area since 1988.

No relatives or acquaintances could be reached.

The Justice Department is giving the hospital time to fix its problems. If the issues are not improved to the department’s satisfaction, it can sue the state under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.

Pat Gehr, a psychologist at Metropolitan, said she agreed with many of the Justice Department’s findings.

She also said that some conditions at the hospital have improved, but that much work remains to be done to prevent patients from harming themselves.

“We don’t have sufficient staff to provide for the security of patients, as well as the staff,” Gehr said.

Bernarding said the hospital had taken many steps to improve since Justice Department investigators visited the facility in 2002.

“Our staffing meets all of the state and federal standards, and we are meeting staffing needs every day and every shift,” she said.