To want to sue my local surgery?

[beeblabs]

TRIGGER WARNING: If you’re taking Zoloft/Sertraline and it’s working for you, best skip this thread.

A few weeks ago I started having dizzy spells and mild panic attacks. I also noticed my thoughts were getting racier (if that makes sense). I’ve suffered from an overactive thyroid and low blood sugar in the past, so I rang the Dr and asked for a blood test! They told me they couldn’t see me face-to-face due to Covid but asked if I wanted something for my anxiety and prescribed me 50mg of Sertraline.

From the first day of taking these tablets, I couldn’t eat or sleep! I’d lie in bed at night breaking out in cold sweats and twitching involuntarily. I rang the GP and asked them to change my meds, but they told me the benefits will outweigh the side-effects eventually and prescribed me Diazepam! By week 2, I felt like I was tripping on LSD and became utterly delusional (convinced I needed to take my life to save my son from the “evil presence” in the house!). I spent a few days in a psychiatric hospital before being discharged (when I stopped taking Zoloft, the delusions stopped).

Now my mother is talking about suing the local surgery. My husband said that I had a very rare reaction to a popular SSRI and despite my experience, they do help a lot of people.

I can’t help but feel that these mind altering drugs are prescribed too easily and there should be further tests before writing a prescription (especially over the phone, by a nurse practitioner!). I’m currently on a new antidepressant called Mirtazipine and I’m still taking Diazepam for my nerves.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with SSRIs? Or is it all positive?

You won’t successfully bring legal action based on that. I’m surprised it’s your first thought.

PALS?

Those are the side effects I had for the first few weeks. It definitely took me a good month for my body to get used to them. I didn't think I'd push past it but been on them for a year now and honestly, they've saved my life.

If you look at sertraline on reddit you'll see it's very common.

Sorry - forgot to say I'm not sure why you'd want to sue your surgery.

If I were you I would try a different tablet. They don't always get it right first try but you've got to start somewhere

You had a rare reaction to a drug that has a long history of being extremely safe.

What has the GP done wrong to merit being sued? It's not their fault you had a bad reaction.

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with this particular medication, but that isn't remotely grounds for suing your surgery (or, more pertinently, the specific clinician who prescribed them), and there aren't really any specific "tests" that could be done in advance anyway. The reaction to SSRIs is idiosyncratic and the vast majority of people have mild side effects that settle within a few weeks.

Sue your surgery? For prescribing a medicine to help with the symptoms you complained of during a consultation? The bastards!!

Why would you sue them. Were you seen by the doctor or general hospital before you were admitted to the m.h unit to find out what was causing these symptoms.

Many people have increased anxiety after starting an SSRI which then decreases and it starts to be effective after a couple of weeks.

A breakdown and hospitalisation is rare and not the fault of the GP.

Some people who take paracetamol have an extreme reaction. Should they also sue their GP?

Sometimes you have bad luck in life and it's not automatically someone else's fault.

Sorry you have suffered such awful side effects but you have no grounds for suing the surgery. Sounds like you were very unlucky as most people adjust ok to these meds, The GP hasn’t done anything wrong. Seems like a huge over reaction from your mum. Does she have form for drama? If you felt able, you could discuss trying alternative medication.

What would you be suing them for, exactly?

It's not the GP's fault you had a bad reaction to the medication.

I am sorry you had a bad reaction and I know it must have been very unpleasant but it's just one of those things. It happens. It's not your GP's fault just as it's not your fault.

You went to the GP with anxiety and were prescribed tablets that are designed to help with that. You can't sue just because you happened to suffer one of the potential side-effects.

I've no direct experience, but what do you hope to gain by suing?

Tbh, you don't even have grounds for a complaint, much less a lawsuit. I'm sure your experience was distressing and I don't minimise that, but sometimes bad shit happens in life and in medicine - very often, in fact - and it isn't anybody's fault. You're basically talking about suing them for not being precognitive.

In not sure what the pint of suing would be.
I am sorry you had a rough experience with them, some meds are hard to get started

I agree to an extent! My mother-in-law has been on them for years and they’ve helped her massively! Hopefully I’m better suited to Mirtazipine and the Diazepam (temporarily, of course!).

Sue away. You will lose because you will have to prove negligence and you can't because the medication was prescribed for the symptoms you presented with.

I understand you had a nasty experience but why would you need to sue the surgery? Side effects can be experienced with a variety of drugs. You were just unlucky.

Did you not read the leaflet that will have warned of these rare side affects?

You were very unlucky, I hope the new regime works well for you. What a horrid experience

Also I have no idea what 'tests' you think the nurse practitioner should have run before prescribing you sertraline.

It doesn't make any sense.

I also think you're being a bit unpleasant about the fact it was a nurse practitioner.

I don't understand what you want to achieve by suing. Anyone can have a bad reaction - I used to take sertraline and the list of potential side effects were all there in the leaflet.

What kind of tests do you think should be done? You were prescribed medication that was suitable for your symptoms. It didn't work for you so you've been prescribed sometihng else - that's pretty standard.

I had a pretty terrible reaction to sertraline for the first three or four weeks, but then it evened out and went steady. My reaction to the terrible reaction was to look online at other people similar experiences, and I made my mind up that I would keep going, I don't regret it in the slightest.

I had a similar reaction to citalopram. I become very suicidal and needed crisis team involvement. It never crossed my mind to sue or even blame my GP, it was just an unfortunate reaction nobody could have predicted. You consented to take the medication so what grounds would you have to sue?

There's no legal case to answer. I'd concentrate on recovery

Not sure you'll have much leg to stand on legally as these are common side effects of Sertraline and as such listed on the label. Did the GP request a follow-up appointment after two / four / six weeks of starting the medication?

Forget any thoughts about suing anyone, you have no basis for a law suit and it’s not something I’d recommend even if you did.

Just concentrate on getting yourself better.