#NEWS : Tragedy of the dedicated Manchester Royal Infirmary nurse who took ketamine to 'switch off' from pressure of work
An inquest heard that stressed Jay Murdoch was proud to share NHS success stories - but regularly worked an extra five hours each shift
A stressed nurse who took ketamine to ‘switch off’ from work died after being found unconscious on his sofa.
But mystery still surrounds Jay Murdoch’s death, with a post-mortem unable to determine the cause, leading a coroner to record an open conclusion.
Mr Murdoch, a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary, had been signed off work for up to six months due to anxiety and depression, but was asked to come back early due to staff shortages.
Despite plans by hospital managers for a ‘phased return’, Mr Murdoch would work an extra five hours each shift and after he clocked off at 9pm and would take the powerful horse tranquiliser recreationally to help him ‘switch off’.
In March last year - after attending a wedding reception - Mr Murdoch, from Hulme, told his partner ‘You would all be better off without me.’
Hours later he was found unresponsive on his sofa, having suffered a cardiac arrest which caused a severe brain injury.
He was taken to MRI, where he worked as a ward matron, but died six days later. Traces of various prescription tranquilisers were found in his system.
Police investigated whether the tragedy was a ‘deliberate or accidental overdose’ but toxicology tests were unable to establish whether the drugs caused his death.
Mr Murdoch - originally from Glasgow - had been assigned to the 62-bed Emergency Surgical Trauma Unit at the hospital.
He proclaimed himself ‘Proud to be a nurse’ and would post updates on his Twitter page about staff success stories and advances in medical treatment.
But his partner Gareth Chapman, a company manager, told the Manchester hearing: “Jay spent a lot of hours working and in late 2016 he was off for four to six months with stress, depression and anxiety.
“He got a return-to-work date but the hospital were short-staffed so asked him to come back earlier. They agreed a phased return but he was still working an extra five hours each shift, He was still very stressed and was asking for support all the time but never received any.
“Jay would take ketamine as a coping mechanism to switch off from work quickly.”
Mr Chapman said the couple went to a wedding reception and an after-party on Saturday, March 26, last year where ‘recreational drugs were consumed in the form of two bumps of cocaine and we had a two gram bag of ketamine but that wasn’t finished’.
They got got home about 8am on the Sunday and the taxi driver and Mr Chapman helped get Mr Murdoch into the cab because he was intoxicated.
Mr Chapman said:“We were having a discussion about his work situation and Jay said ‘You would all be better off without me.’
“This was unusual for Jay and I told him if his job was upsetting him so much that he needed to look for a different one.”
The following morning Mr Chapman said he was ‘unable to wake’ his partner. He called a neighbour, who was a nurse, and an ambulance was called.
Mr Chapman added: “Jay was always against suicide. A couple of months before we stopped someone jumping from a bridge and we knew a few people who had made attempts - he didn’t believe in it at all.”
Jay’s mother, Janet Murdoch said: “I had last spoken to Jay on the Sunday which was the day after they had been to the wedding. It was Mother’s Day and Jay had sent me flowers and chocolates. I phoned him and we had a normal conversation.
“He seemed fine, he just said he was tired. He had been working near enough till 9pm everyday so he was tired.
“Jay was a fantastic son and very confident young man. In the last couple of years he wasn’t as chatty as he normally had been. His position meant that he had taken on a lot of responsibility but he absolutely loved being a nurse, that was his life.
“He did have problems with anxiety and found it difficult to switch off but it wasn’t something I was overly concerned about at the time. It took a long time to get him to see a GP because he didn’t like the stigma that came with it. He was taking medication and had been offered counselling but I don’t think he took this up.”
Susanne Langley, director of nursing at the Manchester Hospitals Foundation Trust, said: “Jay returned to work on January 27 on a phased return and I would liaise with the head of nursing at the time to check things were in place. A ward was being re-opened after an infection broke out.
“I went to check if things were okay and she raised concerns it wasn’t going as well as expected. I spoke to Jay who was very agitated and it was difficult to have a conversation so I asked if he would continue talking in my office.
“During the conversation Jay said he had been working really hard - this was during his phased return which we wouldn’t expect of anybody. There was some difficulties with Jay being asked to leave work but staying.
“I had a conversation with the director of nursing because we were concerned he was showing the same behaviour he had been before he went on leave so we referred him to occupational health.”
Toxicologist Dr Julie Evans said tests were carried out on blood samples taken from Mr Murdoch two days after his admission to hospital and whilst there was no ketamine or cocaine in his system, there were traces of the tranquilisers Temazepam, Diazepam and the sedative Chlordiazepoxide.
She added: “I cannot determine whether the level of drugs were excessive due to the time delay and therefore cannot provide a medical cause of death.”
Recording an open conclusion, coroner Zak Golombeck said: “The deceased died on April 2, 2017 at Manchester Royal Infirmary. He had suffered a cardiac arrest on March 27 and as a result suffered a severe brain injury. He had taken prescription medication and illicit drugs, however the cause of the cardiac arrest is unknown.”
Source : Manchester Evening News
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