Free spirit fled psychiatric unit five times

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

Alison Cameron was a free spirit. Those who knew her say she hated being held in psychiatric hospitals.

Recovering from a bout of schizophrenia, she fled without leave at least five times during a 10-week stay in Taharoto, the acute mental health unit at North Shore Hospital.

After her last flight from compulsory treatment, on August 24, 2000, she was killed when she wandered on to State Highway 17 north of Albany and was hit by a car.

Her body crashed through the Toyota Corona's windscreen - the front-seat passenger was injured - before the impact threw her back on to the road. Four more vehicles ran over her before the Toyota's driver could stop, go back and drag her badly damaged body to the roadside.

The collisions happened shortly after sunset - about 6.15pm.

When Ms Cameron's death was examined at an inquest yesterday before coroner Murray Jamieson, police lawyer Chris Morris probed whether the staff of Taharoto, run by the Waitemata District Health Board, did enough to detain Ms Cameron.

Aged 49 when she died, she was separated from her schizophrenic husband, had three children in care, and had only sporadic contact with her mother in Nelson.

Constable Rose Wilson said Ms Cameron was homeless, jobless and had been trying to sell Bibles door-to-door in January 2000 before her first Taharoto admission.

She had a long history of mental illness. She was reluctant to stay in hospital or take medication, but had no history of attempting suicide, nor of voicing suicidal thoughts.

The coroner heard that in the months before Ms Cameron's death, she had been seen wandering on an Orewa road and beside the Northern Motorway.

Her mental state had been improving at Taharoto, although she was still under a court order for compulsory inpatient treatment.

On the day she died, she was noticed absent from Taharoto at 11am after becoming irritable during talks about plans to shift her into supervised hostel accommodation.

But it was not until 4.45pm that Taharoto staff informed the police of her absence without leave.

Her psychiatrist and Waitemata chief medical officer, Dr Allen Fraser, attributed the delay to the staff assessment that the risk of her harming herself or others was low.

He said her mental state deteriorated during the times she was detained in Taharoto's intensive care unit, the doors of which are locked, unlike those of the open ward which are usually unlocked during daytime.

Dr Jamieson reserved his findings, stating only that Ms Cameron had died of multiple injuries to her skeleton and organs.