Prashant Tiwari fashioned a noose out of a hospital gown, tied it to a ceiling vent and hanged himself in a psychiatric ward when his nurses left him alone for hours to attend a “potluck lunch,” according to a statement of claim obtained by the Star.

The 20-year-old was on suicide watch when he took his own life in the washroom at Brampton Civic Hospital on June 26, 2014.

His grieving family launched a $12.5-million lawsuit against the hospital in February, for wrongful death and breach of privacy.

On Thursday, the Tiwari family amended their original statement of claim to include an allegation that Prashant’s care team “organized, attended and participated in a potluck lunch at the hospital on the day of Prashant’s death, including the hours leading up to his death.”

The allegation has yet to be proven in court. No statement of defence for the lawsuit has yet been filed by the hospital.

William Osler Health System, which oversees Brampton Civic Hospital, told the Star Friday afternoon that it had not received a revised statement of claim from the Tiwari family.

“When we receive it we will respond through the appropriate legal process,” Cara Francis, spokeswoman for Osler, said.

“We have and continue to express our sincere condolences for the Tiwari family’s loss. This is an extremely tragic situation for family, friends and the entire Osler community.”

Francis said she could not comment on any individual patient case, but reiterated the hospital had processes in place to ensure there was always “appropriate staff coverage in patient care areas, regardless of any activity that may be happening in the hospital.”

Under suicide watch, Prashant was supposed to be checked on every 15 minutes — but his family claims hospital records prove he was left alone for almost three hours.

In light of the fresh allegation, the Tiwari family has now retained senior criminal counsel to investigate whether criminal charges should be laid.

Police said they would not respond to questions from the Star about whether or not they were investigating the new allegation as the matter is before the courts.

Prashant was voluntarily admitted into the secure psychiatric unit at the Brampton hospital after stabbing himself in the chest and neck and telling his father, Rakesh Tiwari, that he didn’t want to hurt himself again.

On the day Prashant was admitted, he pleaded with hospital staff to help him take his own life, according to the statement of claim.

Four days later he had to be restrained after repeatedly striking his head against the wall.

Six days later, he was found dead.

“They failed to protect Prashant when they knew, or ought to have known, that he was a danger to himself,” the statement of claim alleges.

“Suicide watch was in place from the day he was admitted and I have never been able to understand why nobody had bothered to go and check on him,” Tiwari told the Star.

“How could they let it happen like that?”

The multimillion-dollar lawsuit alleges the hospital, and 18 doctors, nurses and staff, failed to ensure Prashant was denied materials he could use to harm himself and acted with “reckless disregard” for his life.

The document also alleges 12 defendants accessed Prashant’s medical records without authorization after his death “for reasons not yet known at this time.”

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Michael Smitiuch, Tiwari’s lawyer, said the family “deserves answers and accountability now more than ever.”

“It’s in the family and the public’s best interest to understand how the system failed Prashant, and how other hospitals and staff can learn from these tragic circumstances.”

Tiwari’s death has already raised some serious and controversial questions about internal hospital policies in Ontario.

His death sparked a review of provincial health secrecy legislation after his family was denied details about how he died under the Quality of Care Information Protection Act (QCIPA) — a law that was created to allow health workers to speak freely about medical errors in a closed door environment.

Critics of the act have said it morphed into a shield for hospitals to conceal details about avoidable cases of patient harm and death and Tiwari agrees, claiming only scarce information about his son’s death has been drip-fed to the family.

It took 15 days for the hospital to tell Tiwari how his son had hanged himself — by making a noose out of his hospital gown and standing on a chair to secure it to a ceiling vent.

It’s been almost a year since Prashant died and Tiwari said he still has unanswered questions about how it happened and what went so wrong.

“It seems there are more things that are hidden as well. Under their privacy laws, they are keeping it hidden,” Tiwari told the Star.

The health minister launched a review of QCIPA following Prashant’s death and earlier this year a provincial panel called for sweeping changes to the act.

The 20-year-old’s suicide has also highlighted loopholes in provincial health privacy legislation, after it was discovered nosy clinicians snooped into his medical file when his tragic death was highlighted in the media. Six hospital staff were fired for inappropriately accessing Prashant’s file, Tiwari said.

Hospital spokeswoman Francis previously told the Star she would not confirm the total number of employees terminated as a result of a breach but said the hospital had “zero tolerance” for unauthorized access.

“This is a very rare occurrence at Osler,” she told the Star at the time.

In addition to the lawsuit, the Tiwari family is also urging Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to allow an inquest to proceed into Prashant’s death.

“I didn’t take my son to hospital to die like that,” Tiwari said.

“My son was sick and I took him there to be treated. What else could I have done? He was life for me; he was everything and the people responsible should be held accountable.”