My friend has been having a really tough time with her relationship. Her partner of 20 years cheated on her recently (for 6 months) and a matter of months later expects her to be completely over it. He's been awful to her and during the affair he was essentially trying to make her think she was going crazy.
She cannot leave him easily because she's 49, lives in Europe, doesn't speak the language of the country they live in very well (he's from there), gave up everything to move there with him about 15 years ago and her job (which is in English, but she has very limited other options due to previous experience and language) pays very, very little. He has refused to marry her in the past, but she loves him so it wasn't a problem. Now she's been thinking about leaving, she's realised just how screwed she is. She has no way of getting a job back in the UK and they also have a young teenage son together.
She's also very isolated, because they mainly socialise with his very large extended family.
After a series of events, all tied to her being supposed to forget his affair and act "normally" (like nothing has happened) and being severely criticised for not, she was suicidal last night. She ended up taking paracetamol and ibuprofen while he was there and he was egging her on, telling her she should take another one, telling her that it'd solve problems etc. She overdosed and has been very ill today. Says she's feeling better now, able to drink a bit of water, but tired.
So, this arsehole of a man is a (very experienced) PSYCHIATRIST. He KNEW the impact of what he was doing (and everything he's done so far) and the health implications of overdosing on paracetamol. He hasn't taken her to hospital, he's just ignoring her now, annoyed with her. I've spoken to her and asked her to at least phone the out of hours GP service there before she goes to bed..but I don't think she will because I think she wants to die (although that's unlikely to be the outcome). I am not close geographically, so I can't do much more than I have now, although I wish there was a lot more I could do.
Is this criminal, at least in the UK? He tried to kill her, in my opinion, and he has not assisted her when she's quite possibly going to be seriously impacted by this for the rest of her life. She couldn't have driven today, but he usually doesn't work Mondays, so I'm guessing he was around and if not, he certainly was this evening, so he could have taken her to the doctor.
Sorry this is a bit long, I'm so angry at this guy. My friend is one of these people who is so super sweet, very genuine and kind. He isn't even picking on someone his own "size".