Teen mom could have been saved

A visiting Canadian psychiatrist has said that the suicide of 17-year-old Reshma Meeto was preventable. On Tuesday, Meeto hanged herself at her Moruga home six weeks after giving birth. Her case highlighted post-partum depression (PPD). Ten percent of women experienced significant depression after pregnancy. “Everyone that’s dealing with obstetrics and gynaecology, that is involved in the birth of a child, should be educated about following the moms after they have given birth. The incidence of the disorder is not huge, but it is enough that anyone following moms during pregnancy and after, will be looking for signs of the disease three weeks after she gives birth,” said Dr Sonia Chehil.

In an interview with Newsday at Cascadia Hotel, Dr Chehil of Dalhousie university said if a woman was experiencing depressive symptoms, displaying odd behaviour, hearing voices, unable to sleep, agitated, fearful of her child, withdrawn, then these are clinical symptoms of which anyone caring for the patient should be aware. Dr Chehil said families should also be alerted about signs and symptoms before the mother was sent home from hospital. “If they notice that the mother is not okay with the baby, depressed, seems upset or something goes wrong, they should know to contact the doctor immediately.” She said this could prevent cases such as Meeto’s. “The assumption is that the doctor is educated and understands what this could be.” Her colleague, Dr Stan Kutcher, Prof of Psychiatry, associate dean of Medicine at Dalhousie, said the most effective way of preventing suicide was early identification and effective treatment of mental illness particularly depression. “The good news is we now know how to teach professionals to identify those who are depressed and people who are at risk of suicide.”

The Canadian psychiatrists are in TT conducting “a train the trainers” programme for the Ministry of Health to enable health professionals to share psychiatric information. Dr Kutcher said, “Once this programme reaches health professionals, many of these tragedies can be prevented.” Dr Indar Ramtahal, a doctor at St Ann’s Hospital, said PPD “is erroneously seen as a lack of will power, strength, a weakness in character, something to be ashamed of, a moral weakness. In essence that is not what PPD is. It is one of several forms of an illness we call major depressive disorder.” He said people with a genetic vulnerability toward depression would show the symptoms of depression when they go through stresses in life. The prevalence rate of depression in women is two to three times that of men. One in every four women will get a major depressive disorder. Dr Ramtahal said that women attending clinics at public hospitals are given information on PPD, but public education is not ideal.