Psychiatric Malpractice

Psychiatric malpractice lawsuits are complicated and difficult to prove. If you feel that you or someone you love has been the victim of psychiatric malpractice you will need the help of an experience psychiatric malpractice attorney to help you determine if the wrongdoing which you have suffered meets the legal criteria for malpractice.

Mental health care providers have a duty to treat their patients with dignity, provide adequate care, and prevent harm. However, even if these duties have not been met, there are four elements which must exist in order for you to have a case:

· A provider-patient relationship must have been established in order to establish that the provider had a duty of reasonable care.

· The mental health care provider must have breached this duty of care.

· Harm must have occurred. This can mean physical or emotional harm including but not limited to physical injuries, suicide, emotional suffering, or worsening of psychological condition.

· The mental health care provider’s breach of duty must have caused the harm.

Mental health care that is unsuccessful does not constitute malpractice in and of itself. Psychiatric malpractice can take many forms including:

· Failure to diagnose

· Failure to recognize worsening of condition

· Failure to treat

· Negligent or harmful use of medications

· Failure to monitor medications

· Lack of informed consent for medications, therapeutic technique, or procedure

· False imprisonment (including inappropriate restraint)

· Fraud

· Emotional manipulation

· Physical abuse

· Negligent psychotherapy

· Sexual Misconduct

· Abandonment

· Failure to prevent harm to self or others

· Inadequate supervision

· Breach of confidentiality

· Defamation

· Wrongful death

Mental health patients are vulnerable to negligence and wrongdoing for many reasons. The very condition for which they sought treatment can put them at risk due to emotional instability, incoherence, or impaired judgment. They may not be taken seriously, or may feel that they will not be taken seriously, when making a complaint, due to the stigma of mental illness.

The Right to Informed Consent

Contrary to what many people assume, mental health patients have a right to informed consent regarding treatment. They have patients have the right to make an informed decision as to whether or not to undergo any type of treatment including taking medications. This means a right to know the benefits and risks of undergoing or choosing not to undergo a treatment, and most importantly, the right to refuse.

Medication Errors

In addition to obtaining informed consent, mental health care providers have a duty to prescribe appropriate medications, in appropriate doses. This raises another issue. In some cases where mental health care patients are harmed by medications the responsible party is the drug manufacturer rather than the mental health care provider.

Victims of psychiatric malpractice and their loved ones may recover compensation for their losses including:

· Past and future medical expenses

· Past and future loss of income

· Physical and emotional pain and suffering

· Loss of enjoyment of life

· Long-term care

· Loss of companionship

· Burial expenses