Failure to Prevent Suicide: Can You Make a Medical Negligence Claim?
Suicide rates in the United Kingdom have risen to the highest level since 1999, and suicide is now the leading cause of death for young people. But how many of these suicides could have been prevented?
The mental health crisis of today’s generation is exacerbated by substandard support by professionals. If you’ve lost a loved one to suicide as a result of inadequate mental health treatment, then we are here for you.
Suicide in Medical Negligence Terms
When you hear about deaths due to medical negligence, you don’t often think about suicide. This is because suicide is inherently an action done by oneself with the intention of ending their life. However, many people who have died by suicide have sought mental health support prior to their death, and some of those people have unfortunately been let down by professionals.
Not all suicides are preventable by medical professionals, but in some cases, there may have been missed opportunities or mistakes made in a person’s mental health care that contributed heavily to their death.
What could this look like?
- Missed / Incorrect diagnosis of mental health illnesses.
- Refusal to provide mental health support.
- Incorrect discharge from a mental health facility
- Allowing those in crisis to make decisions that determine their care.
- Inadequate or no treatment plan for patients post-hospital discharge
- Allowing access to objects or tools, in a mental health facility, which assist suicide.
Coroner’s Inquest
If you have recently lost someone to suicide, you may have been informed that there is a coroner’s inquest being held into their death. What is this?
A coroner’s inquest takes place when a death occurs unnaturally. It is a formal public inquiry conducted by a coroner to establish the facts of the death. These facts being where, when, how and most importantly what led to their death.
This inquest does not determine any liability, criminal or civil, it purely uncovers the facts surrounding the death. However, it does not cover any liability, so you are still able to have legal representative at the inquest. This may be to aid you with giving evidence or getting the answers you want.
Claiming for your loved one’s death
Who can claim?
The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 allows the following people to claim for medical negligence against the negligent party:
- Executors or Administrators of the Deceased’s estate
- Representatives of the Deceased’s estate (six months after death)
- Persons entitled to a bereavement award (please see section “what can you claim?” for further details)
- Eligible dependants
Why claim?
Families and loved ones pursue a civil claim against the responsible party for a multitude of reasons. This may be to simply get a formal apology from the negligent party and to prevent the negligent care from continuing to happen. It may also be to recover financial aspects, like therapy costs or to make up for the loss of their income on which you were dependent.
Whatever your reasons are, they are justified. Please get in touch if you believe your loved one committed suicide at the hands of negligence.
What can you claim?
Dependency awards are one of the most common awards claimed when someone dies. This takes form in two ways:
- Financial dependency awards can recover the loss of a person’s income on which you were reliant.
- Loss of ‘services’ dependency award is to recover for services that may have been provided to yourself/your family by the deceased. This includes services such as care and support.
A ‘Statutory Bereavement Award’ may also be available to certain family members who have lost a loved one due to negligence. This is a fixed amount of compensation that applies to spouses, civil partners, and children under the age of 18.
There may be other elements you are able to recover, please get in touch to discuss further.
When to claim?
The general time limit to bring a medical negligence claim is three years from the date of negligence. In suicide cases, this would usually be three years from their death.
Some preventable suicides may warrant a claim under the Human Rights Act 1998. The time limit to bring this claim is one year from the date of death.
When contacting us, you will have the opportunity to discuss time limits and limitations in detail.
Additional Information
‘No Win, No Fee’
We take on many cases under a ‘No Win, No Fee’ agreement, formally known as a Conditional Fee Agreement. If our team are able to take on your case, they will discuss all forms of funding available to you and decide what the best route is.
Confidentiality
Medical history and data are personal. We take client confidentiality very seriously. Your loved one’s data is safe with us.
How long do claims take?
Medical Negligence claims often take a long time to settle. There is no way to determine how long your case will take to settle, as it depends on a number of factors.
Mental Health Support
Losing a loved one is extremely hard, especially to suicide. If you are struggling in any way, no matter how minor it seems, then please seek help.
Call Samaritans on 116 123 or visit their website.