I posted some time last month about my mother being hospitalized with lithium poisoning. She's been out of the hospital for a month, but is undergoing involved post-care, and has nothing but hatred for her former psychiatrist - even to the point of wanting to sue him or see him kicked out of medicine.

I watched all of this go down from illness onset to release from rehab. After some quick internet research, I think we at least have the prerequisites for a case - most prominently, negligence. This doctor possibly misdiagnosed my mother, then she went through six different medications. The most benign made her so nauseated constantly she could barely function, the worst landed her in the hospital for two weeks with acute kidney failure. The others resulted in rashes, illness, and worsened symptoms. Regarding lithium, the doctor apparently quadrupled her dose with little information, had no notification that she was ever hospitalized, then acted with no regard or concern when he did learn he nearly killed a patient - acording to my mom, he acted like it was just any other appointment and they were going to go ahead with another medication.

I'm no lawyer, but I think we would have a malpractice case. There were pretty severe damages incurred by something 100% due to this doctor's diagnosis and prescription: rashes, kidney failure (including 48 hrs of unconsciousness that had the hospital put her on a death watch), a mini-stroke, and a handful of other post-illness symptoms. Not to mention my mom's been wearing a heart monitor for the past few weeks and it's driving her crazy - according to her, it makes her sad to see that every day and be reminded of what happened, plus all the equipment is so cumbersome getting dressed and moving around is much more of a chore than it would normally be.

What I'm taking way too many words to say is, should she/we pursue it? Is it worth it? Has anyone here ever dealt with a malpractice case or taking some legal action against an incompetent doctor?