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| Girl jumping off building illustration |
A hospital will have to pay 962,120 shekels ($274,000) after a teen, who was hospitalized for mental health problem, was able to escape and commit suicide by jumping from a building, according to court proceedings in Israel.
Five years after a 15-year-old girl killed herself, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court ordered the hospital to pay compensation to the dead teen’s parent.
The incident occurred in September 2008, when the young girl was hospitalized at the Gah Mental Health Center. The girl managed to get her hand on the keys to the department where she was staying. She kept the keys hidden for a long time before she fled from the hospital to a nearby building, from here she jumped to her death.
The judge ruled that the hospital knew that the young girl held a master key that can open all the doors of the department and was able to escape at any time, which eliminated the purpose of her admission.
The judge noted that the hospital should have replaced all the locks in order to prevent access to the roof.
The judge ordered the hospital to pay 500,000 shekels to the parents for their pain, suffering and shortened life spans, 400,000 shekels for the child’s lost years, 6,000 shekels for burial expenses, 40,000 shekels in lost pension and social benefits, 13,120 shekels for the loss of old-age pension and 3,000 shekels for the cost of psychological treatment of the parents.
The hospital will also have to pay court costs in the amount of 180,000 shekels.