A mother-of-two who was admitted to a hospital in England following a mental health breakdown, died after drinking too much water while staff were distracted by their phones, a recently concluded inquest into her death has found. Michelle Whitehead, 45, was admitted to the Millbrook Mental Health Unit in Sutton-in-Ashfield near her home in May 2021, BBC News reported. She began drinking water excessively while at the unit and slipped into a coma after reaching dangerously low sodium levels, which led to brain swelling, the investigation found. Despite psychogenic polydipsia being a well-known psychiatric disorder marked by excessive water drinking, the staff failed to diagnose Whitehead and she continued to have unmonitored access to water. Whitehead’s husband Michael Whitehead told BBC News, "When Michelle [seemingly] fell asleep, staff should have realized something was very wrong.

Source: Fox News November 27, 2023 14:31 UTC