A claim against a hospital and consultant psychiatrist goes to trial, after a patient commits suicide. Medical Protection also provides assistance with the inquest and hospital inquiry.

A psychiatric patient is placed under close observation

Mrs X asked her GP to refer her eightyear-old daughter, Child F, to be assessed by a consultant psychiatrist in child and adolescent mental health. The GP referral letter stated that Child F had reported to her teacher that her father frequently touched her genitalia.

At the clinic, Ms S was seen by Dr F where a full history was taken – Ms S mentioned she had had one miscarriage – before tests were carried out. A pregnancy test proved positive, but an ultrasound scan showed no evidence of a gestation sac. Ms S was treated with mifepristone orally, followed by misoprostol (inserted vaginally) several hours later.

Complaints in health and social care: standards and guidelines for resolution and learning (2009) aims to provide a simple, consistent approach for staff who handle complaints, and for patients who raise complaints across all health and social care services.

Mrs E, a 29-year-old solicitor, who was 35 weeks pregnant, was admitted to hospital for antihypertensive treatment as she had developed pre-eclampsia. She had a history of epilepsy, which was well controlled by treatment with phenytoin and phenobarbitone. She had been prescribed these medications since her teenage years and had decided to continue with them throughout her pregnancy after appropriate advice and counselling.

Mr S was a 45-year-old man who was well-known to his GP. He was an anxious, frequent attendee, who needed to discuss different symptoms and worried about his general health. He had suffered from psychiatric disorders in the past and was a heavy smoker who found it difficult to give up.

A 31-year-old housewife and mother of three, Mrs F had coped with epilepsy for many years, taking carbamazepine and phenytoin to control her condition.

Mrs H, a heavy smoker in her forties, had been unwell for three days with aches, fever, nausea and anorexia. Dr P visited her and found that she was depressed and had contemplated suicide.