Victoria’s largest public health service is facing a criminal charge over the death of an Indigenous woman who took her own life while receiving mental health treatment at Dandenong hospital in 2022.
WorkSafe Victoria on Thursday announced it had charged Monash Health for allegedly exposing a patient to health and safety risks while in its care.
The workplace safety watchdog said the charge related to a patient who killed herself while receiving treatment at the hospital’s mental health unit in February 2022.
Guardian Australia first reported on the death of Ashleigh-Sue Chatters, a 28-year-old Palawa woman, in 2022. Chatters was admitted to Dandenong hospital’s psychiatric unit in Melbourne after calling police. She took her own life there four days later on 25 February.
“Monash Health is facing a single charge under section 23(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks,” the workplace safety watchdog said in a statement.
A Monash Health spokesperson said the health service “takes its responsibility of protecting all patients in its care with the utmost seriousness”.
“As this matter is before the courts, Monash Health is unable to comment further at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The matter is listed for a filing hearing at the Melbourne magistrates court on 13 March.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
