DETROIT (WXYZ) — His family would tell you that Sean Cohen almost never had a bad day. He was, for most of his 41 years, the life of the party.
“He just loved life. Loved life,” said his mother, Anita Cohen. “He was in the entertainment business, he was a disc jockey outside of his everyday job.”
But last summer, Sean got sick; first with COVID-19, and then with stomach problems that doctors couldn’t fix. His family says he was in constant pain and, before long, it had taken a toll on Sean’s mind.
“It just went all downhill,” recalled his sister Stacey Partak. “He wasn’t feeling good...and he started with all these doctors.”
By the fall, Sean no longer wanted to live. On October 25 last year, he drove his car along the Detroit River, swallowed two bottles of pills and texted his family that he loved them.
Detroit police responded to the scene.
In body camera video, Sean appeared disoriented and lethargic. His speech was slow and he told doctors about all the pain he’d endured.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” he told the officers.
“We’re not mad at you,” responded one officer. “We’re just going to get you some help.”
Detroit police had Sean transported to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where their crisis center treats men and women in a psychiatric emergency.
“They did what they’re supposed to do,” said Chief James White. “They called EMS. They got him over to the hospital and (the officer) did a very well-done petition report for him to get the help that he needed.”
Sean arrived at Detroit Receiving around 8 o’clock that morning. His sister Stacey Partak, who lives four hours away in northern Michigan, called Sean’s nurse.
“She said, ‘Well, we usually hold for 72 hours,’” Partak recalled. “(And she said) we would normally send him to the crisis center, but the crisis center at that time was full.”
“I said can you please relay a message?” she recalls asking the nurse. “That he is very upset that we saved him...and he told us that this wasn’t finished. That once he gets released, he’s just going to try again...it’s very important that you relay the message to the psychiatrist.”
But instead, only a few hours later at Detroit Receiving, Sean was discharged around 2pm. He ordered an Uber and left.
“I said, you’re releasing Sean?” his mother recalls asking a nurse. “She said yeah, the doctor thinks he’s okay to go. I (said), after taking all these pills, he’s okay to go?”
According to a text Sean sent his sister after his release, he said “the psychologist” he saw “was pretty cool” and “said not to take pills anymore.”
Sean was discharged 6 hours after trying to kill himself.
The next morning, his family woke up to an e-mail.
“I’m sorry I could not do this anymore,” he wrote. “I can’t take the pain no one will listen to me!"
He told his family he could be found in the Detroit River, and said that he loved them.
Sean’s body was recovered by a dive team. He was wearing a backpack filled with weights and had tied a rope around his body.
“The very officer who responded to the attempted suicide is the same officer who responded to the successful suicide, tragically,” said Chief James White, “and attempted to pull him out of the water.”
Sean’s family was stunned. How could a hospital release someone, they asked, only hours after they tried to end their own life?
The Detroit Medical Center—which operates Detroit Receiving—did not explain, citing patient privacy laws.
But in a statement, said patients “are discharged only when they are medically ready, based on a detailed evaluation by the clinical care team.” When patients like Sean die, the spokesman said, the hospital conducts an internal investigation.
“There’s almost no words,” Sean’s sister says today. “You’re just in such disbelief that this could happen.”
“Releasing these people is not a plan. It’s a plan to cause harm to themselves or somebody else.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat here.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
