Tragic case of girl involving negligence at psychiatric hospital
- 03.05.2017
- GillEdwards
- Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion
This is such a sad case and is a tragedy for all involved. We have to ensure that the safety net is in place for patients when they are at their most vulnerable, whatever the cause of someone's depression. The jury at the inquest into Pippa's death found that inadequate community care and post-discharge support, lack of joined-up planning between the different agencies, and inadequate communication of Pippa's risk of suicide when she was discharged, all contributed to her suicide.
This is a pattern of poor care that I have seen in a number of the psychiatric negligence cases I have dealt with involving patients who have died or been seriously injured as a result of their suicide attempt. In some of the cases, the patient has been allowed home or discharged despite there being a high suicide risk and family members being desperate for help [Rabone v Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust 2012].
In other cases, the patient was in the care of a Community Mental Health Team and poor communication and planning between the community and hospital meant that the patient has not been protected when they should have been. Cases are often vigorously defended and you may be surprised to learn that some Defendants have even argued that the patient contributed to the negligence themselves by doing something that was inherently dangerous i.e. attempting suicide. The money would be better spent on improving staffing and training: mental health services are under-resourced and the calls for improvements are widespread. The main reason for claimants bringing such claims is to raise awareness of the problems in mental health care and to prevent the same thing happening to someone else. Hopefully the recent spotlight on mental health issues will help to bring it out of the shadows.
Gill Edwards is a clinical negligence solicitor with PotterReesDolan. Should you have any queries about clinical negligence issues and wish to speak with Gill or any other member of the team please contact us on 0161 237 5888.