Three years following a bizarre incident in Australia in which a 25-year old psychiatric patient fatally stabbed her father and sister and seriously wounded her mother, the patient's family is suing her psychiatrist for "negligence" in her diagnosis and treatment. According to the statement of claim filed in the New South Wales Supreme Court, the treating psychiatrist, Dr. Yolande Lucire failed to properly diagnose Julia Wilson's psychiatric condition. Dr. Lucire is also accused of withdrawing the patient's psychotropic medication and prescribed ineffective medication instead. She had been seeing the patient professionally since Ms. Wilson spent three weeks in a psychiatric unit in November 2006.
On July 3, 2007, Dr. Lucire diagnosed Julia Wilson (due to reasons of confidentiality, the patient and her family were given pseudonyms by the media) with depression and panic disorder. Three days later, she met with the patient in a coffee shop and advised her mother to take her home and arrange for an appointment in the following week. Later that same day, Ms. Wilson stabbed her father and 15-year old sister to death and attacked her mother when she attempted to come to her family's aid. In the statement of claim, Dr,. Lucire is blamed for the tragedy given her failure to appreciate the risk that the patient posed to herself and others and failing to arrange her admission to a mental health facility or detention centre.
Julia Wilson has since been found not guilty on the grounds of mental illness by the Supreme Court and ordered held indefinitely. Although Dr. Lucire has stated that she is bound by confidentiality not to respond to the statement of claim publicly, she has indicated that she plans to defend herself against the allegations. The New South Wales Medical Tribunal has already suspended Dr. Lucire's medical license after ruling that she has engaged in unsatisfactory conduct in treating Ms. Wilson, Dr. Lucire has announced that she plans to appeal the decision.
Dr. Yolande Lucire is no stranger to controversy given her reputation
in local legal circles as a "hired gun" in forensic cases. After
testifying in a 2007 court case about the relationship between SSRI
medications and violent crime and suicide in adolescents, she was
reprimanded by the New South Wales Medical Tribunal and ordered into
treatment due to questions relating to her professional competence.
Critics of the psychiatric profession accused the Tribunal of engaging
in a "smear campaign" intended to discredit her.
When a patient suffers an injury as a direct result of the medical treatment or care that he or she has received, this may be due to the negligence of the attending doctor. What clients often misunderstand is that every mistake that a doctor makes does not necessarily mean that he or she has administered negligent treatment.
Posted by: Doctor Negligence | January 19, 2011 at 12:12 AM