The mother of Lateefa George, the 27-year-old woman who died suddenly last week, has spoken out for the first time.
Norma George told Observer that her daughter – who had been struggling with bipolar depression since the age of 19 – had complained of feeling mentally unwell a few days before her death.
She decided to seek help and checked herself into Clarevue Psychiatric Hospital on September 4, the mother said.
Norma said she discovered her daughter in an unresponsive state at Clarevue when she went to visit on October 30.
When I reached the women’s quarters, I saw three nurses sitting there. I asked them ‘where’s my daughter’ and they told me she was sleeping…when I saw the child, she was lifeless,” she told Observer yesterday.
“She was slanted on the bed with a pillow behind her back and her two hands stretched on her side. I embraced her and I started to cry to her ‘Lateefa, Lateefa’…and she never responded,” the mother continued.
The next day, George said she received a call that her daughter was at the hospital. She said she asked what was wrong with her daughter, but wasn’t given an answer.
At the hospital, the mother was told of the condition her daughter had arrived in.
“The doctor told me that the ambulance that brought her did not get anything from her. No pulse, nothing,” she said.
George added that the family will retain the services of a lawyer and are waiting on the results of the autopsy that will detail the cause of her daughter’s death.
She said she was told by police that the findings will take approximately a month.
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that can cause someone’s mood to swing from an extreme high to an extreme low.
Symptoms of depressive episodes can include lack of energy, feeling worthless, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.