Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

We all experience depression in our lives occasionally. It can be from the loss of a job, a serious illness, the death of a loved one, or for other various reasons. Usually, we are able to adjust and return to our normal daily routines. However, sometimes feelings of depression seem overwhelming and continue in intensity. Extended periods of depression and sadness sometimes indicate a greater cause than personal circumstances. In times such as this, talking to a professional is important to identify if you are possibly suffering from depression. When this depression is accompanied by suicidal thoughts, other mental illnesses, alcohol or drug abuse, this is especially troubling and can indicate serious illness. A situation such as this demands immediate medical attention. The young woman in this Florida medical malpractice case was a model and just 20 years old when she voluntarily entered a facility for depression and anxiety and for psychosocial assessment. The victim had stated upon entering the facility that she felt helpless and hopeless and did not want to live. The victim also admitted to a poor appetite, difficulty sleeping, and feeling anxious. She further stated that she heard voices and had become increasingly depressed to the point where she had not gone to work, had slept all day, and complained of poor energy and poor appetite. While in the facility, the victim would cry hysterically saying she wanted to go home. The nurses stated that the victim’s affect was flat, tearful, feeling hopeless, saying that she doesn’t want to live. She attended no group meetings and remained isolated in her room except for meals. In spite of all of the above telling signs, the treating psychiatrist, who saw her for less than 10 minutes, stated that she did not meet the criteria for involuntary commitment (“a danger to herself or others”) and decided to discharge her after only 24 hours in the treatment facility, with an appointment to return for a follow-up visit with this psychiatrist in one week. Tragically, the following week, after multiple attempts to reach the psychiatrist (who was on vacation), fire rescue was summoned to the home of this young victim because she had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and was unresponsive. She was trauma hawked to the closest trauma center, but was pronounced dead upon arrival. The family of this young woman contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler for assistance in bringing a lawsuit against the treatment facility and the treating psychiatrist involved for failing to recognize the obvious signs and symptoms of expressed and implied suicidal tendencies, helplessness, hopelessness, and the wish to die, and for failing to convert her voluntary admission to an involuntary placement, as well as patient abandonment.