![\"Nancy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024bfa6-614.jpg\"\/)
\nNancy and Mark Reilly were married for 37 years<\/p>\n
The wife of a man who took his own life while receiving psychiatric treatment in Cork has questioned how he was able to do so while he was being held in a secure mental health unit.<\/p>\n
67-year-old Mark Reilly was admitted to Cork University Hospital’s Acute Mental Health Unit in March 2022 because he was suicidal.<\/p>\n
Cork University Hospital and the HSE have apologised for failings in Mark’s care.<\/p>\n
Nancy Reilly said Mark, a former software engineer, community volunteer and teacher, had shown no signs of mental illness during their 37-year marriage before developing what she believes was a psychosis from late 2021.<\/p>\n
His condition rapidly deteriorated and, days after being admitted to the mental health unit, he took his own life.<\/p>\n
As part of a High Court settlement, the HSE and CUH apologised to the Reilly family, admitting a potential ligature point in the unit had not been identified.<\/p>\n
For decades, Ms Reilly knew her husband as an outgoing and loving man who became deeply involved in his adopted community in Co Cork.<\/p>\n
“From the day we got married, he was just the happiest outgoing person you would ever want,” Ms Reilly told Prime Time.<\/p>\n
“We were always kind of like teenagers still. We laughed a lot. We had a lot of fun together. We loved each other so much. We understood each other,” Ms Reilly said.<\/p>\n
“He gave up a very successful career in software, ended up in the third world with me working for various NGOs,” she added.<\/p>\n
\nNancy and Mark Reilly were married for 37 years<\/p>\n
The pair, both from the United States, bought a house in Kinsale in 2017 and made it their base.<\/p>\n
“He got very involved in Kinsale. He was on the board of the Men’s Shed, Chairman of the Temperance Hall Committee. He worked with children at the youth club.”<\/p>\n
They also retrained as teachers and worked for a period in Cambodia and Laos.<\/p>\n
Then in December 2021, their world was shaken.<\/p>\n
“Out of the blue,” her husband began to develop what Ms Reilly believes was a psychosis.<\/p>\n
The change was apparently sparked by something simple – Mark had forgotten to notify the US tax authorities about a change of address for Nancy and became very anxious about what was a minor problem.<\/p>\n
“On 27 December, he told me he was really concerned,” she said, “he thought he had done something wrong”.<\/p>\n
An accountant they contacted in the United States told them it was “no big deal” and that he had done nothing illegal. But something was triggered in Mark’s mind. He began to catastrophise about his oversight.<\/p>\n
“He began obsessing on that and building it up in his mind to the point where, he started to believe that the federal government was going to come to Ireland and take him back to America and put him in prison,” Ms Reilly said.<\/p>\n
“He began having night terrors. He would wake up around 2.30am and have about an hour where he was just absolutely petrified for his future, for his life. And then that would subside and he would go back to sleep,” she added.<\/p>\n
Within months, things had spiralled further.<\/p>\n
On the morning of 15 March 2022, the decades-long teetotaller bought a bottle of alcohol, Nancy believes it was whiskey, and went missing.<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed located him that night and took him into protective custody.<\/p>\n
The following day, he was admitted to the Acute Mental Health Unit of CUH.<\/p>\n
He seemed to be doing well there. While he wasn\u2019t allowed visits, he was able to phone Nancy.<\/p>\n
On 18 March at about 11.30pm, “he called me and he said, ‘Nancy, I feel like myself again. I don’t know what’s been going on, but I’m okay.\u2019”<\/p>\n
It was the first night in two and a half months that Nancy says she was able to sleep soundly.<\/p>\n
“But then about three o’clock in the morning, the doorbell rang,” Nancy said.<\/p>\n
“Part of me couldn’t go down the stairs fast enough and part of me didn’t want to go down the stairs. The feeling of dread that I had because I just knew what had happened.”<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed were at the door. Mark had taken his own life.<\/p>\n
He was somewhere that was “safe, secure”, Nancy said.<\/p>\n
“I believed he would be okay, that they would take care of him. I think they did the best they could, there’s just not enough mental health professionals. It’s got to do with proper training.”<\/p>\n
![\"Nancy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024bfa7-614.jpg\"\/)
\nNancy Reilly said she believed Mark was in a “safe, secure” location<\/p>\n
The HSE’s apology stated, “Since Mark\u2019s death, significant infrastructural works have been undertaken within the unit to address environmental and safety issues, and to strengthen the overall care environment for patients and families.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, a potential ligature point had not been identified, and this was a failure on the part of the HSE,” it said.<\/p>\n
It also said that a “Serious Incident Management Team carried out a full review of the circumstances surrounding” Mark\u2019s death. That review “identified areas for learning, which were acted upon and continue to be addressed”.<\/p>\n
In a statement to Prime Time, HSE South West said it “offers its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mark Reilly on their tragic loss, particularly his wife Nancy.<\/p>\n
“We acknowledge the very regrettable shortcomings in his care,” it said, adding that “We would like to reassure Mrs Reilly and the public that reforms have been identified arising from this tragic incident, and changes have been made at the Acute Adult Mental Health Unit”.<\/p>\n
Ms Reilly says she took the case against the HSE because “because I want to see improvements. Mark and I purposefully chose this country to live in. We love Ireland. We became citizens of Ireland because we love Ireland. I feel I owe it to everyone that’s here.<\/p>\n
“I can’t help Mark. He’s gone. But Mark would never forgive me if I just had let this lay.”<\/p>\n