Any suicide is a tragedy, but it’s particularly hard for the family and friends left behind when it could’ve been prevented. If you’ve lost a loved one to suicide due to substandard mental healthcare, we can support you through the inquest process and help you claim compensation.
If your loved one could've been stopped from taking their own life, you could make a medical negligence mental health claim. Contact our team, we’ll listen to what happened and advise you on the next steps.
Healthcare providers have a responsibility to protect life whenever possible. Several failings can lead to a preventable suicide, including:
- Incorrect diagnosis of mental health illnesses
- Failure to identify and react to suicide risk factors, signs of distress, or requests for help
- Failure to make appropriate referrals or supervision arrangements for an at-risk individual
- Allowing a patient access to dangerous materials, objects, or drugs
- Incorrectly discharging patients from hospital
- Failure to arrange appropriate treatment or medication
- Failure to prepare adequate care plans or safeguarding after treatment
- Failure to communicate with the patient’s family
- Shortages of beds in inpatient settings.
These failings can take place at different times within the treatment process. They may prevent treatment from beginning at all.
Why choose Irwin Mitchell to support you with your claim?
Our expert medical negligence solicitors have extensive experience with preventable suicide and attempted suicide claims. We’ll treat your case with the utmost sensitivity and discretion throughout. We understand that your situation is unique, and we’ll work tirelessly to achieve the specific outcome that you want.
Our team will investigate how and why your loved was able to take their life. We’ll then bring a claim against those responsible. We’ll work to get you an apology for their mistreatment and get you the compensation you deserve to cover any costs you’ve faced.
We can represent you at inquests and campaign to bring about changes to make sure this doesn’t happen to other people in future.
Our experts are recognised by the leading independent legal guide, The Legal 500. They rank our medical negligence team in their highest tier, Tier 1. One former client told them: “The team at Irwin Mitchell have been exceptional to deal with. From day one they have been compassionate, understanding, and accessible.”
With offices around the UK, our experts can arrange meetings in your nearest office or meet at another appropriate location. We can also arrange phone or video calls if this is better for you.
Alongside our team of legal experts, our Support and Rehabilitation co-ordinators will also be here to help. They can help you find the right support, support that’ll be local to you. They’ll be with you during and after your claim.
We also work with charities such as Mind, a leading mental health charity. They can offer you a support network and will be there to help you as you move forward with your life.
Spotlight On Bereavement Following Suicide
Senior Associate Solicitor Ayse Ince joined by Amelia Wrighton, CEO of Suicide&Co, Rebecca Gibson ambassador for Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) and Counsellor for Suicide&Co and Professor David Sines for a meaningful conversation around bereavement following suicide.
In the webinar, we talked about:
- The support and educational resources available to support those bereaved by suicide
- Self-care, reaching out for help, and getting the emotional and practical support you need when navigating the grief journey.
Differences in Civil & Coronial Processes and How to Ensure the Best Outcome for Bereaved Families
In this webinar, Senior Associate Solicitor, Nicola Handley, was joined by Derek Winter, Deputy Chief Coroner, and Mike Rawlinson, K.C Barrister, for an interesting session about Evidence and Conclusions and the different ways they can be relied upon in the Civil and Coronial process.
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