New Hampshire Personal Injury Lawyers

Medical Malpractice - Wrongful Death Settlement Report

Nature of claim: Suicide resulting from psychiatrist’s failure to inquire about suicidal intent.
Lawyers for Plaintiff: Attorney Mike Hall

This claim was brought against the defendant health care provider and its employee doctor on behalf of the decedent’s estate and by her husband, individually, for his own psychological and emotional suffering. On January 22, 1991, the decent committed suicide after a period of severe depression following the birth of her first child. The decedent had suffered sexual abuse as a child, and her newborn daughter evoked in her powerful feelings of guilt and concern stemming from her own history of molestation. Moreover, she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – a type of cancer – in August of 1990, contributing to her depressed state.

To address her depression, the decedent attended intermittent counseling sessions over a period of several months, during which time she was asked by multiple mental health care workers whether she had any suicidal thoughts or intent. Among those who thus questioned her was a psychiatrist, who was adhering to the accepted standard of psychiatric care in doing so.

After a brief respite from her depression, the decedent again sought help from the defendant provider in early January of 1991. She was assigned to another psychiatrist, with whom she spoke on two brief appointments that month. The psychiatrist’s own notes reveal no questioning on the issue of suicidal thoughts or intent, nor is there any evidence of an attempt to understand the cause of the decedent’s depression or to assess or address her concerns about childhood molestation. Though the defense argued that such questions had been asked but were simply not recorded in her notes, the evidence of the care provided contradicts not only common sense but an agreed-upon standard of care.
The psychiatrist clearly recognized the seriousness of the decedent’s condition because she prescribed Prozac, an anti-depressant medication, yet the treatment she provided was grossly inadequate. Prozac is known not to take full effect for two to three weeks; meanwhile the decedent received no supportive counseling, no psychotherapy, no day care, no recommendation or even offer of hospitalization, nor even any documented assessment of her risk for suicide. Thus, the decedent essentially received no treatment during the interim inherent to Prozac, furthermore acknowledged side effects of the medicine would have aggravated many of her pre-existing conditions. These and other factors contributed to her early and preventable death.

The plaintiff's wrongful death lawyers showed that for the decedent’s physical and emotional pain and suffering, shortened life expectancy, and loss of enjoyment of life, and for her husband’s loss of consortium and his own emotional pain and suffering connected with her death, both the decedent’s estate and her individually were entitled to collect damages.

Personal Injury Attorney Michael Hall negotiated a confidential settlement for the plaintiffs in this case.

New Hampshire Personal Injury Case Evaluation - Wrongful Death

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New Hampshire Wrongful Death / Personal Injury Lawyers

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