Family says notifying relatives after hospital discharge might have saved Jesse Flowerdew\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Within an hour of Jesse Flowerdew\u2019s discharge from Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, where he had gone to seek help for suicidal thoughts, he killed himself.<\/p>\n
Flowerdew, who would have turned 48 on Monday, had a documented history of suicide attempts. He checked himself into Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on April 2, making it clear that he was again struggling with ideas of harming himself.<\/p>\n
But two days later, Flowerdew was assessed as not a threat to himself or others and was released from hospital, according to his wife Daisy Bolton, 39, who gave an emotional address at the B.C. legislature following question period on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Bolton, with Flowerdew\u2019s sisters Miranda and Katie, said neither she, his emergency contact, nor any family was contacted about Flowerdew\u2019s discharge from hospital or given any insight into his care plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no call, no warning, no opportunity for us to keep him safe,\u201d Bolton said through tears. \u201cA very short time after Jesse left the hospital, he was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The apparent quick turnaround in Flowerdew\u2019s disposition, from crisis to copacetic, should have been a red flag that something was wrong, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis family should have been part of the plan,\u201d Bolton said. \u201cWe should have been informed, included, and given the opportunity to support him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bolton works in the mining industry and was in northern B.C. when Flowerdew, who had suffered from depression and anxiety since his youth, admitted himself to hospital.<\/p>\n
Married three years, the couple talked by phone that day, but Bolton said he downplayed his symptoms and suggested he was being cared for. Bolton assumed she would be notified before he was released.<\/p>\n
Flowerdew, self-employed as an appliance repair person, was \u201cvery loved\u201d and his parents, siblings, two grown children and others would have picked him up from hospital and kept a 24-hour watch if they knew, Bolton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have someone whose brain is obviously in crisis, then how can you expect them to care for themselves?\u201d she said. \u201cThat makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The province needs to take a serious look at whether the Mental Health Act \u201cis truly protecting the people it\u2019s meant to serve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew Jesse better than anybody, and I know that if he was OK, he wouldn\u2019t have done this, that\u2019s what\u2019s so heartbreaking,\u201d she said, adding that Flowerdew, who was on medication for his anxiety, was otherwise a happy and funny person.<\/p>\n
Bolton is calling for immediate changes to the Mental Health Act so there is a mandatory notification for family or designated emergency contacts when a patient who has expressed an intent to harm themselves is being discharged.<\/p>\n
Stronger discharge planning would also include safe transportation of the patient upon discharge, followup, and clear documentation when a decision is made to release a high-risk individual.<\/p>\n
Bolton said she doesn\u2019t want another family to suffer the incredible pain and loss she and his family are feeling when it could be prevented.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did what we ask people to do: He asked for help from the system that is supposed to protect people in their most vulnerable moments, but the system failed him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bolton said the family hopes that speaking out about the shortcomings of the Mental Health Act, currently under review by the province, will lead to changes.<\/p>\n
Skeena Conservative MLA Claire Ratt\u00e9e, the critic for mental health and addictions, said the party has been asking for the same changes.<\/p>\n
MLA Elenore Sturko, who now sits as an Independent, introduced largely the same \u00adprivate member\u2019s bill in 2023, 2024 and again last year.<\/p>\n
In 2024, she cited the example of James Zimmer, who died Feb. 9, 2023, by suicide within hours of being discharged from Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.<\/p>\n
Zimmer, 50, had struggled with depression and \u00adanxiety, alcohol use, paranoia and s\u00aduicidal thoughts. His sister admitted him involuntarily to hospital on Feb. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n
His family wasn\u2019t told when Zimmer was discharged. On Feb. 10, his body was found by a hiker in Saanich.<\/p>\n
Sturko said she pulled the bill last year after the April 2025 Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy, in which a person with mental illness drove his vehicle into the crowds, \u00adkilling 11 people and injuring more.<\/p>\n
The proposed amendment included a requirement for hospitals to provide notice to a close relative before discharging patients under the Mental Health Act and to inform them if a patient has withdrawn consent for information to be shared with family.<\/p>\n
Sturko said she collaborated with Health Minister Josie Osborne, and the two agreed they could get faster results by giving clinical guidance through health authorities for health-care workers to work with families around the discharge and care plans for people involuntarily committed under the Mental Health Act.<\/p>\n
Sturko said the government has told her it is working with the health authorities to train health-care workers and provide that guidance now.<\/p>\n
Ratt\u00e9e shared Flowerdew\u2019s story in the legislature during question period on Tuesday, then asked Osborne to commit to introducing the amendment.<\/p>\n
In response, Osborne said it\u2019s \u201cvitally important that families be engaged and involved in the care of their loved ones,\u201d adding that\u2019s why the government has made commitments around the review and modernization of the Mental Health Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoon we will be releasing new guidance to the Mental Health Act that will address some of the issues that the member is raising here,\u201d said Osborne.<\/p>\n
Ratt\u00e9e said the government has promised a review of the Mental Health Act for a year and asked for a commitment on a timeline for the change.<\/p>\n
Osborne said that work is being done, but it\u2019s important it be done right, with due care and attention and consideration to all the complexities involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give my commitment to the member that indeed the work is underway, and we will have more to say about it soon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n