Claim against GP Practice which failed to send psychiatric referral

James Bell has settled a claim for the widow of a man who tragically took his own life following a severe decline in his mental health. Multiple requests for help were made to the deceased’s GP, who some two and half months before the death made an urgent referral to a psychiatrist. However, due to an administrative error the GP Practice sent the referral to the wrong destination. The error was only discovered two days before the death.

The Kingsley Napley team represented the family at an inquest. Following this, the GP Practice admitted the failure in relation to sending the referral. However, the case remained complex, with disputes over whether the error directly caused the death, as well as the overall value of the claim.

Expert psychiatric evidence suggested that had the referral been handled correctly, the Deceased would have been contacted within 24 hours and provided with an appointment within two weeks. This would on balance have led to a different chain of events.

The GP Practice’s defence argued that the Deceased’s condition was treatment resistant. Our team robustly countered this, demonstrating that the Deceased had previously functioned at a very high level on a specific medication regime before an unsupervised withdrawal led to his deterioration.

The case also faced challenges regarding the level of compensation, including disputes over the Deceased’s expected retirement age, lost earnings, and his widow’s dependency claim.

A settlement was reached at a mediation.