[Charlie_J]

In order to bring about some closure, I intend to review a doctor who has had a profound effect on my life, and I would really appreciate any feedback from you guys here.

I really, really need to do this to move on, even if it's just on some silly review website where it'll never be seen. I've removed name and place references here, though they'll be correct on the review site.

Anyway, it goes like this:


This review relates to the Dr XXX who worked as an SHO in Psychiatry and from 01/11/01 as a specialist registrar in XXX.

This doctor assessed my brother’s mental state upon admission to hospital on both the 1st of August and the 8th of August for drug overdoses.

My brother had previously taken an overdose that resulted in a stay in ICU. He had attempted to slash his throat in the past (requiring stitches). He had also taken a video recorder in the bath.

This doctor maintains that my brother was seen by the duty psychiatrist prior to his discharge from hospital; however, I remember very clearly that we, as a family, begged for a second opinion from the nurse who was present, but we were told that due to Dr XXX's recommendation, this was not possible. I do not know how these two conflicting claims can be reconciled. We were never given any answers. We said to the attending nurse at this time that if he was sent away, he would be dead within two months.

My brother successfully ended his life on 10th October 2001. My father found him, and when he was unable to resuscitate his son, he too took his own life. I found them both.

In his report to the coroner, Dr XXX says:

When I assessed his mental state at this time I noted that he appeared quite grubby and he was in his work clothes wearing a “just tyres” T-shirt. He appeared to be very drowsy and did appear to me to still be intoxicated. At times his eyes were rolling back and his eyelids would droop. His speech was reduced in amount but spontaneous and towards the end of the interview his speech appeared slightly slurred. His mood he described as relaxed and he appeared calm to the point of actually being subdued and drowsy. In terms of his thoughts as I have mentioned he denied any current suicidal intent.

[…]

I did not assess his cognitive state as I felt that he was still showing signs of acute intoxication and that I would not be able to get a true measure of his attention and concentration.

I find it disturbing that a doctor specialising in Psychiatry who had progressed to SHO could consider it fitting to assess suicidal intent, when he did not consider it fitting to assess cognition. The above description makes it clear to me that my brother’s mental state and suicidal intent was assessed when he was still intoxicated.

In 2004, when my mother and I felt able to, we began the NHS complaints procedure regarding my brother’s care, as we felt his (and more so my father’s death) could have been prevented if the right actions were taken. We wished to see Dr XXX mainly so that we could accept his personal regret, see that everyone involved was human, and move on with our lives.

Instead, we were sent a letter telling us in no uncertain terms how “committed” and “conscientious” Dr XXX is, and given a meeting (that Dr XXX himself did not bother to attend) at which we were talked around in circles by two of his friends and colleagues in what amounted to a cold and shocking display of disregard for mine and my mother’s mental health and my very real concerns.

With the best will in the world, no psychiatrist could be ignorant of the effect of such disregard on a person who had recently lost half of their family to suicide.

I was last year diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (a condition that predated 2001). It took a long time to reach this point as I was terrified of being referred to mental health services, and only eventually agreed with my GP to do so after he had reassured me that Dr XXX no longer worked anywhere he might have access or input into my care.

I can only review based on my own experiences and opinion.

[Franny212]

Originally Posted by Charlie_J

In order to bring about some closure, I intend to review a doctor who has had a profound effect on my life, and I would really appreciate any feedback from you guys here.

I really, really need to do this to move on, even if it's just on some silly review website where it'll never be seen. I've removed name and place references here, though they'll be correct on the review site.

Anyway, it goes like this:


This review relates to the Dr XXX who worked as an SHO in Psychiatry and from 01/11/01 as a specialist registrar in XXX.

This doctor assessed my brother’s mental state upon admission to hospital on both the 1st of August and the 8th of August for drug overdoses.

My brother had previously taken an overdose that resulted in a stay in ICU. He had attempted to slash his throat in the past (requiring stitches). He had also taken a video recorder in the bath.

This doctor maintains that my brother was seen by the duty psychiatrist prior to his discharge from hospital; however, I remember very clearly that we, as a family, begged for a second opinion from the nurse who was present, but we were told that due to Dr XXX's recommendation, this was not possible. I do not know how these two conflicting claims can be reconciled. We were never given any answers. We said to the attending nurse at this time that if he was sent away, he would be dead within two months.

My brother successfully ended his life on 10th October 2001. My father found him, and when he was unable to resuscitate his son, he too took his own life. I found them both.

In his report to the coroner, Dr XXX says:

When I assessed his mental state at this time I noted that he appeared quite grubby and he was in his work clothes wearing a “just tyres” T-shirt. He appeared to be very drowsy and did appear to me to still be intoxicated. At times his eyes were rolling back and his eyelids would droop. His speech was reduced in amount but spontaneous and towards the end of the interview his speech appeared slightly slurred. His mood he described as relaxed and he appeared calm to the point of actually being subdued and drowsy. In terms of his thoughts as I have mentioned he denied any current suicidal intent.

[…]

I did not assess his cognitive state as I felt that he was still showing signs of acute intoxication and that I would not be able to get a true measure of his attention and concentration.

I find it disturbing that a doctor specialising in Psychiatry who had progressed to SHO could consider it fitting to assess suicidal intent, when he did not consider it fitting to assess cognition. The above description makes it clear to me that my brother’s mental state and suicidal intent was assessed when he was still intoxicated.

In 2004, when my mother and I felt able to, we began the NHS complaints procedure regarding my brother’s care, as we felt his (and more so my father’s death) could have been prevented if the right actions were taken. We wished to see Dr XXX mainly so that we could accept his personal regret, see that everyone involved was human, and move on with our lives.

Instead, we were sent a letter telling us in no uncertain terms how “committed” and “conscientious” Dr XXX is, and given a meeting (that Dr XXX himself did not bother to attend) at which we were talked around in circles by two of his friends and colleagues in what amounted to a cold and shocking display of disregard for mine and my mother’s mental health and my very real concerns.

With the best will in the world, no psychiatrist could be ignorant of the effect of such disregard on a person who had recently lost half of their family to suicide.

I was last year diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (a condition that predated 2001). It took a long time to reach this point as I was terrified of being referred to mental health services, and only eventually agreed with my GP to do so after he had reassured me that Dr XXX no longer worked anywhere he might have access or input into my care.

I can only review based on my own experiences and opinion.

My heart goes out to you, and your mother. I am glad that you are open to receiving help for yourself. You will likely be a good advocate for your own treatment, given your painful experience. There are, unfortunately, mediocre, poor, and even unethical practitioners out there, and we must try to always trust our own instincts. I wish the best for you.

[Leed]

I would not only review this so-called "doctor" but I believe I would consult an attorney. You very possibly might have a case. I surely would look into it.

I am so very sorry this has happened. Unfortunately, some doctors become very cold, and impersonal (to say the least) after they've been in practice for many years. I've come in contact with several myself, causing me much pain, both mental and physical.

What happened to you and your family is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to you. God bless you and my prayers are with you. Please take care. Hugs, Lee

[Yoda]

You could review the pdoc on Angie's list. I use it to hire people; just recently found that a pdoc I like has returned to my city so I am going to set up an appt for him to treat my son.

[Charlie_J]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Unfortunately, the deadline has passed to instigate any legal proceedings, and that was never my intention anyway. I only became so angry when I (and my mother) were clearly sacrificed a few years later for the sake of his career. I tried to place this review on the two websites available to me in the uk: patientopinion and iwantgreatcare. Both of them have declined to publish it.

So... it seems like I can't even express it except in private to my own MH professionals. I was talking to a CPN the other day about it, and I was reasoning that I need to forgive for my own sake, and she said that she doesn't think I should. She didn't have any ideas for what I can do though.

I am thinking of writing the entire thing as a real-life inspired fictional account with the names changed and seeing if I can can get that published. Then, if the "good" doctor has any issues with it, the onus will be on him to prove that it's true. I could only win in that case.

Charlie xxx

[Oxidopamine]

Let me start by saying I'm very sorry for the losses you experience Charlie J and the unfortunate effects they had on your life and your mother's life.

I studied health sciences and neuroscience in university, as well as conducted various experiments. I also am part-time in a hospital but not in psychiatry. I've seen patients who displayed similar drowsiness (theirs was due to medication) as well as seen various friends like that due to alcohol intoxication. In both cases, you cannot get a reliable assessment of their cognition and in order to predict what they will do with any certainty, you need to understand their thinking and cognition. I'm baffled at the fact the doctor admitted this then went against it all. When a patient or their family ask for a second opinion, they're entitled to it. They may have to wait several hours or even a day or two but during that time, the patient still has to be kept safe.

I've had a few friends who tried on more than one occasion to commit suicide. What I learned from them, university and the psychiatrists, when someone comes into the hospital from a suicide attempt, their wounds and such are treated and then they are assessed. They're always kept for several days. If they are determined and have had more than one suicide attempt, chances are they're going to try again until successful, so all the better to keep them until the doctor can be reasonable sure they're safe and even then, they're put on suicide watch outside the hospital.

More often than not they're very good but sadly there are utterly horrible ones. I've had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with them when visiting a loved one in the hospital and I asked myself how on Earth did they get certified to practice. Currently, the infuriating one is one of the doctors my family members see who has made me question whether their focus actually is my family members' well-being or just screwing around blindly. That doctor has made the simplest of procedures an absolute headache and gone as far as negated what other specialists recommended and prescribed, yet when asked for a rationale, either none was given or it was bogus (I went as far as asking the other specialists of this doctors' rationale and they admitted it was sometimes bogus or completely irrelevant to the matter at hand). They finally are cooperating now but there still are times when, without any sort of recent lab work, they'll suddenly change the prescription despite evidence it was effective. Some of these medications are for managing behavior and sure enough, they fly off the handle and end up in the hospital.