Could I have pursued a medical negligence claim over medication harm?

[ForeverDelayedEpiphany]

Over a decade ago, I had a head injury and post concussion syndrome before being injured permanently by an off label antipsychotic prescribed for severe insomnia and anxiety caused by the concussion. It gave me a neurological involuntary movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia that is a bit like Tourette's and Parkinson's disease combined, and pretty much permanent. It goes into remission but to say it's been hell with the horrible disfiguring involuntary movements and symptoms is an understatement. 😢💔

My GP polydrugged me with a lot of psychotropic medication at the time, and I was in severe distress caused by all the post concussion syndrome symptoms. As a last resort to help with severe anxiety and insomnia, she prescribed an off label antipsychotic for a week, and told me not to look up the side effects, as she knew I'd literally not take it (as I'd said I was worried about adverse effects). There was no patient information leaflet in the medication box either.

I had a chat with a solicitor about a decade ago, and was told they could possibly look into a case to claim something. But i didn't know how stressful it might have been, and I had a reply and apology from my GP after I wrote a letter of complaint to the surgery, and she covered her arse pretty well, outlining the reasons she had to prescribing the medication she did

I guess it has been extremely difficult to live with a medication induced movement disorder, and perhaps any financial compensation might not have really helped me to get some ways of feeling better/closure about it all.

Maybe I'm just feeling sad about the fact my life was permanently changed and it makes my ongoing health problems (perimenopause etc) harder to treat, as I'm now more sensitive to medication side effects etc.

I'm not sure what I'm posting here, apart from a rant! Maybe just the question of whether i could have pursued a claim.

I’m really sorry you have had such a dreadful injury from your medication, it sounds incredibly hard to live with. I’m not sure if there is a time limit on claims but it may be worth revisiting a solicitor who specialises in medical malpractice and see what they have to say, even if you are too late to pursue a claim have you considered counselling to talk through what happened to you?

There is a time limit of 3 years from when you found out about the malpractice, I believe.

Thank you for your kind words. I actually think it was probably about 4 years maximum time limit for negligence claims if i remember correctly, but I could be wrong.

Yes, I had some counselling early on after the first 6 months, but I guess the underlying issues and feelings I have about it all are still there, with the symptoms as an ongoing reminder 😢

As the song title by the Manics says, "La Tristesse Durera" (The Everlasting Sadness) sums up the way I feel.😞

It sounds like counselling may be worth revisiting, it sounds like you have been struggling alone with this for a long time, both with the physical implications of your injury and the mental pain and stress it has caused you, sometimes just being able to talk about it can at least give a bit of mental relief even if it can’t help the physical symptoms.

It started with a head injury. What caused that? You might have a case if the head injury was caused by someone else.

Unfortunately it was a head injury that was caused by my own carelessness, so I guess it might not have been a case 😞

How the injury was caused is irrelevant to a claim for medical negligence. However, any claim must be brought within 3 years of you realising that the treatment was harming you, so it is now far too late.

If you had made a claim at the time, you would have had to show that the treatment caused the problems you are experiencing and that the GP's actions in prescribing these drugs fell below a minimum acceptable standard.

Using an off label drug is not illegal nor is it negligence in and of itself. It sounds like you did not give informed consent to the use of this drug as you were not told of the possible side effects, but for a medical negligence claim to succeed on this basis you would have to show that this particular drug caused your tardive dyskinesia and not the other drugs you were prescribed. If the GP's decisions on treatment were logical and defensible, and were in line with medical opinion at the time, a claim would probably fail.

Is there no medication that can help with the tardive dyskinesia? Have you seen a neurologist? Could it have been one of the others you had before this one? As an aside, all medicines should come with the leaflet. I thought that’s one reason pharmacists don’t like to split packs, as they need to have a leaflet for each one. I guess that’s not such an issue nowadays when they can print out one, this may be old news. I’m sorry things are tough. I also love the MSP.

It’s usually a 3 year time limit but can be complex so might be worth speaking to lawyers just to confirm. I know others from my b12 deficiency support group who have used this firm for claims, I thought about seeing if I had a case myself at one point, but decided it would be too stressful and my physical health wouldn’t stand up to the process. I’d definitely at least clarify with a firm if you could still have a case

https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/medical-negligence/faq/

Yes, it absolutely did cause my TD. I had a written diagnosis from a neurologist confirming the Pericyazine was the causation antipsychotic.. 😕

That gets over one hurdle, but you don't have a case if the GP's decisions were in line with medical opinion at the time and were logical and defensible. And you still have the problem that you are out of time.

It is sometimes possible to bring a case even though you are out of time. However, given that you have known about the link between your treatment and your condition for over a decade and you were not a child when this happened, you would only be able to bring a case if you can show that you had a mental disability that meant you lacked the legal capacity to claim, or that there are exceptional circumstances that mean you should be allowed to bring your claim despite the delay.

You need to consult a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence cases if you want to know if you can bring a case now and whether you have a reasonable prospect of success.