Pubdate: Tue, 25 Sep 2007
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author: Richard Edwards
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

SUICIDE GIRL JUMPED TO DEATH AT HOSPITAL

The daughter of an aristocratic couple jumped to her  death following
an eight-year descent into mental  illness triggered by cannabis, it
has emerged.

Genevieve Butler, 28, the daughter of Lord and Lady  Dunboyne, the
Anglo-Irish family, threw herself from a  balcony at a London hospital
after breaking free from a  nurse who was taking her for a cigarette
break.

Her parents told of how their "clever, bright and  quick-witted"
daughter had been lost to them eight  years ago when she was diagnosed
with drug-induced  -paranoia after using cannabis.

They had noticed she was ill in her final year at  Bristol university.
She was diagnosed with  cannabis-related paranoia and bipolar disorder
and was  sectioned several times.

Miss Butler was taken to Chelsea and Westminster  hospital in April
last year after an overdose of  paracetamol.

An inquest heard last week that she had been declared  safe to go home
shortly before her death and had not  been seen by a
psychiatrist.

Despite the fact that two other psychiatric patients  had killed
themselves by jumping from the same spot --  on a fourth-floor walkway
at Chelsea and Westminster  hospital -- the nurse accompanying Miss
Butler was not  warned of the risk.

Having escaped the nurse momentarily, Miss Butler  clambered over the
railing, looking back only to say  "Goodbye". She fell four floors and
landed in the  public gallery, in front of visitors, patients and
staff.

The coroner recorded a narrative verdict at Westminster  Coroners'
Court.

Her parents were critical of the care she received  during an
eight-month stay at Gordon Hospital in  Victoria, central London, in
2004. They have "files and  files" of the complaints they made.

They said their daughter had an idyllic childhood in  Rotherfield,
East Sussex.

Lady Dunboyne said: "In a way we had been mourning the  Genevieve we
knew for about eight years."
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