Parents question Pasadena man's death at County-USC

Just having Jorge admitted to the County-USC Medical Center mental hospital in Rosemead brought his family a measure of relief. "My daughter said, 'Bueno. He's there. He's protected. He's safe,' " said Maria Alarcon of Pasadena..

On Monday, the family learned that the 26-year-old UCLA graduate had killed himself. His sister, Claudia Wells, 28, said it was his third attempt in a monthlong stay.

"I never expected this," Maria Alarcon, 54, said. "How could this happen in a hospital?"

According to the family, Alarcon, who studied engineering at Cal State L.A. and UCLA, was on suicide watch as late as Saturday. About 5 a.m. Monday, Alarcon hanged himself with a T-shirt in his bathroom, said his father, Rafael, 54.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office has ruled the death a suicide.

"The death was unexpected and is being thoroughly investigated by this department," said Michael Wilson, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, which runs County-USC, in a statement. He declined further comment.

Suicides are rare at in-patient mental hospitals, said Dr. Martin Leamon, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at UC Davis. "It's always a very significant event that requires a very, very thorough review of what allowed it to happen."

In 2007, two patients committed suicide by hanging themselves using a sheet tied to a bedroom locker in separate incidents at Atascadero State Hospital on the Central Coast. A similar suicide occurred at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino a year earlier. In 2005, three patients hanged themselves in separate incidents at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk.

In general, suicidal patients should be closely monitored and, in extreme cases, a staffer should follow the patient even during showers and while using the toilet, Leamon said.

Wells said the hospital should have known to keep a close eye on her brother. He had been on suicide watch twice before, she said.

"It shouldn't have happened there," Claudia said.

In Jorge Alarcon's bedroom at the family's Pasadena home, his parents spread out their son's possessions on his twin bed, covered with a blue blanket -- a guitar, a high school yearbook and wooden crosses he liked to make after he became a devout Catholic.