SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Two pathologists identified a probable cause of death for a young woman who was found in the amphitheatre of a hospital in Saint John, N.B., but a coroner's inquest heard Tuesday they don't have enough information to make a conclusive determination about how she died.
Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, was asked by Saint John Police to look at the case of Serena Perry and, after reviewing the evidence and autopsy report, he said the cause of death is undetermined.
"You need more pieces to the puzzle to determine what happened," he said.
Perry, 22, of Hampton, N.B., was a psychiatric patient at Saint John's Regional Hospital when she was found unresponsive in the hospital's amphitheatre on Feb. 14, 2012. Nurses have testified that she had a hospital house coat wrapped loosely around her neck when she was found.
Police have said a forensic examination could not confirm a cause of death.
However, Pollanen says a leading consideration is death as a result of neck compression from the house coat that was found around Perry's neck.
Neck compression could occur by hanging, self-strangulation or someone else strangling her, he said, but there's not enough evidence to point to any of those three options.
Earlier, pathologist Dr. Mohammad Hossain told the jury that Perry did not die of natural causes but he couldn't say if she died as the result of an accident, a self-inflicted injury or by another person.
After conducting the autopsy, Hossain said he saw no obvious cause of death, and the marks and bruising he observed could have been caused by hospital staff when they performed CPR on Perry.
However, he said after observing signs of a lack of oxygen and learning from police that a housecoat was found around Perry's neck there must be a link between the two.
Outside coroner's court, Tasha King said while the family had previously read the pathology reports it was emotional to hear the testimony Tuesday about her sister.
Both King and John Gillis, the family's lawyer, said they hoped the inquest will hear from a patient who told hospital staff that he was with Perry that evening but left her in the amphitheatre because she was "acting funny."
Security video shown to the inquest last week showed Perry and a male patient -- whose name is protected by a publication ban -- leave the psychiatric ward on the night of Feb. 14, 2012, and later walk in the direction of the amphitheatre.
"He was the last person with her and he would know what happened in that room," said King.
A toxicologist who testified earlier Tuesday said he found evidence of drugs in Perry's system, but none of them contributed to her death.
Dr. Albert Fraser said he found levels of various drugs used to treat Perry's schizophrenia, and evidence of marijuana or hashish use, but none at excessive levels.
