On the third day of the public coroner's inquest, it was the turn of a psychiatrist to testify on Wednesday on the death of Amélie Champagne, the young woman who suffered from Lyme disease and took her own life in September 2022, a few days after being admitted to hospital Suicide attempt.
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The young 22-year-old student from Montreal was suffering from Lyme disease and could no longer endure her suffering when it came time to end her life.
On September 7, 2022, she first attempted suicide by drowning in a chalet in Estrie. She finally reached her destination on September 11th, after a short stay at the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Sherbrooke.
According to Dr. According to Aurélie Taverne, a French-trained doctor who worked under the supervision of the on-call psychiatrist, Amélie Champagne appeared “tense and anxious, but she was not in a state of collapse.” […] She showed no signs of a major depressive episode.”
The young woman reportedly told Memphrémagog police patrolman Jérémy Boily, who rescued her, that she wanted to die.
Therefore, Dr. Tavern in her report to Dr. William Seeman pointed out an increased risk of suicide. “Amélie found herself in a situation of loss of control and dysfunction […] although she mentioned that she no longer wanted to commit suicide […] “She assessed her suicide risk as moderate to high,” she wrote, justifying the nighttime observation.
Due to lack of space, she couldn't be transferred to Montreal and requested leave after spending two days on an emergency stretcher.
Since her medical records did not meet the criteria for hospitalization under compulsory admission and Amélie did not want to spend another night in the emergency room, her mother picked her up and took her back to the family residence, where she unfortunately ended her life.
– With information from Jean-François Desbiens, TVA Nouvelles