£10,000 obtained for Norfolk widow following mental health care failings

Posted 21/09/2015

Sharon Allison, a medical injury specialist at Ashtons Legal, has obtained a £10,000 settlement, under the Human Rights Act, for a Norfolk lady whose husband took his own life.  Mr W, who was in his 40s, had a history of depression and self-harming going back a number of years.  On the day before his death, he sought medical help, explaining that he was suicidal.  The mental health team at his local hospital assessed him and decided that they could not on this occasion detain him under the Mental Health Act for his own safety. He therefore discharged himself from the hospital.  The following day he was found dead.

Sharon comments: “It has been well documented in the press recently that the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is under serious pressure in terms of beds and resources.  Unfortunately we regularly see the devastation that is caused in families where the mental health care offered has been inadequate and someone has not been prevented from taking their own life.  Mr W’s history, which included a suicide attempt a year earlier, should have resulted in him being given a higher level of care.  In this instance, as with many medical injury claims, the family’s main motivation in taking legal action is to try to bring about improvements in the system so that errors are not repeated.”