RALEIGH -- A young mental patient from Louisburg who died last summer at a psychiatric hospital in Rocky Mount was killed by an overdose of prescription medications, according to the state medical examiner.
The body of James Ross Collins, 23, was found by staff at Coastal Plain Hospital on July 23. He was in an "isolation room" and had been dead about six hours, according to a report filed by local police.
Coastal Plain Hospital is a 50-bed inpatient psychiatric and substance-abuse treatment facility operated by Nash Health Care Systems. After the death, federal inspectors cited the hospital for several violations.
Jeff Hedgepeth, spokesman for Nash Health, said the hospital made numerous changes as a result of the investigation.
"We revised and implemented some patient safety procedures as a result of that," Hedgepeth said Monday. "We're putting every process in place to make sure it never happens again."
Collins, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as a teenager, was living at a group home in Raleigh when, on July 17, he complained of chest pains and thoughts of harming himself or others, according to the autopsy report. After being sent to the emergency room at WakeMed Raleigh, he was transferred to Coastal Plain.
On the evening of July 22, medical records indicate nurses gave Collins doses of at least 15 prescribed medications. Shortly before midnight, the patient appeared unsteady and was slurring his words, according to the federal investigative report. The staff assisted him to a bed to lie down, and he was soon unconscious.
Though workers peeked in on him, Collins was left in bed for 14 hours and 20 minutes before anyone attempted to wake him, according to the report. By then, he was not breathing and his skin was blue. There was foam in his mouth.
Toxicology tests performed by the medical examiner determined that at least two drugs, a popular antidepressant and an antipsychotic, were present in Collins' blood at very high levels. He died of the "combined toxic effects of multiple medications," according to the autopsy report.
Lana Thore, Collins' grandmother, said his family has been heartbroken by how he died and infuriated that poor care from the hospital appears to have caused his death. She said the family is consulting with an attorney about possible legal action.
Collins was born in New York but had lived in North Carolina for about 15 years, his grandmother said. As a youngster, he often visited in the summers.
"He had a wonderful sense of humor," remembers Thore, who lives in Jamestown, N.Y. "He didn't like being in the group home or the hospital. He wanted to come home. He wanted to come stay with grandma."
