Anger after student stages 'suicide' as performance art

Published on Monday 2 February 2009 21:07

A SWEDISH art student has been condemned by police and medical staff after she faked a suicide attempt and then attacked a hospital's psychiatric nurses and doctors as part of a "play".

For her final project before graduation, Anna Odell, 35, pretended she was about to take her own life by jumping off a bridge. Horrified witnesses called police, who restrained the kicking and screaming woman.

After arriving at the psychiatric ward of St Goran's Hospital in Stockholm, Odell proceeded to scream at medical staff who tried to help her – even spitting in the faces of several nurses.

She was eventually restrained on a trolley and given drugs to calm her down, remaining in the hospital overnight as doctors attempted to diagnose her condition.

But Odell later revealed the whole episode had been an act and was part of a larger art project that will not be completed until May.

The charade led to David Eberhard, the chief psychiatric doctor at St Goran's, lashing out at Odell for using up scarce resources and staff time at the already crowded hospital.

"She and the head of her school ought to cut their hair and get a real job," he said. "Her project is in the same league as paintings of crying children or white horses in the surf."

He went on: "It's not only cheeky that she used society's resources, what she also did to other patients, the staff – to everyone – is shameless."

Police also condemned Odell, a student at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden's largest college for the arts.

They are considering prosecuting her for wasting their time, and a spokesman said: "We are investigating allegations of assault, too."

A hospital staff member present the night Odell was admitted said he was traumatised by the event.

"Having to restrain another human being is excruciating and something you keep with you," he said.

"Other seriously ill psychotic and suicidal patients – whom we are there to help – had to wait because of this."

An unapologetic Odell said; "I don't want to risk my project. But it is well-thought through and no joke."

Dr Eberhard, who led the team that cared for Odell, remains sceptical about the artistic merits of her "play".

He said: "It's just pathetic – paint a picture instead. But she's welcome to come back so I can give her a shot of Haloperidol, and then we'll see how much fun she has. That would make a great installation."

Haloperidol is an anti- psychotic drug that can have serious side-effects in some patients.