Suicide Antidepressants 13/09/2006 England Physician Commits Suicide Summary:

Last two paragraphs read: "In a written statement to the inquest fellow GP, Dr Sylvia Glass said that Dr Gradwell felt the letter of complaint was a "personal attack" and the thought of facing a public inquiry was making him unwell."

"She said the doctor diagnosed himself with "full blown clinical depression" for which she prescribed anti-depressants. But he wasn’t contemplating suicide because thoughts of his family prevented him from doing it, she told the coroner."

There is a strong possibility that the antidepressants either exacerbated the paranoid feeling of "a personal attack" or actually caused it. Paranoia is listed as an adverse reaction to antidepressants in the Physicians Desk Reference.       


http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news/s/217/217444_tragedy_of_caring_doctor_who_took_his_own_life_.html




Tragedy of caring doctor who took his own life

MUCH-loved and respected GP Dr Mark Gradwell.
EXCLUSIVE

A HIGHLY respected doctor ended his own life by standing on a railway track in front of a train because he feared he hadn’t done enough to save a patient’s life – even though he had been cleared by investigators.

Much-loved and dedicated Poynton GP, Dr Mark Gradwell, 46, a father-of-two, would not listen to family and colleagues telling him he had done everything correctly following a complaint and walked onto the tracks just yards from his home, an inquest heard.
Dr Gradwell of Lostock Hall Road, who practised at the Priorslegh Medical Centre on Park Lane, was the subject of a probe by the Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust, who "did not uphold" an accusation.

But tragically the caring doctor did not believe he had been vindicated and feared his family would be dragged through a subsequent public inquiry.

Since his tragic death the inquest was told that the community of Poynton, where the family GP lived for 17 years, had rallied round the family sending more than 200 letters of condolence in which they stressed how he had done "everything" for them.

But sadly Dr Gradwell could not live with the complaint and his unsubstantiated fears were expressed in a moving suicide note addressed to his family left hidden under plant pots in the couple’s greenhouse, undiscovered until a week after his death.

His wife, Kathryn Gradwell, 45, a nurse, said at an inquest at Warrington Town Hall on Monday: "He had written that he had failed in his duty to his patient and therefore he had failed us and didn’t want to put us through an inquiry."

She added: "In the few weeks before he died he talked it through with a colleague, and me, and was feeling better. We were making plans for the future."

Deputy Coroner for Cheshire, Dr Janet Napier, recorded a verdict that Dr Gradwell took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed and gave his cause of death as multiple injuries.

She said: "In his own mind he hadn’t lived up to his very high standards he set for himself and wouldn’t listen to anyone saying what he did was the right thing.

"It is absolutely horrifying that this can happen to someone who has given their all so conscientiously for years and years."

The inquest heard that on May 15, Dr Gradwell, told his wife and son, who retired to bed, that he was going to watch the 10 o’clock news headlines. But instead he left the family home taking with him a torch, personal stereo and a bottle of 16-year-old malt whisky.

Investigating British Transport Police constable Michael Smith thought the keen walker made his way across fields near his home before being struck by the London Euston to Manchester train at 11.20pm.

The coroner was told that the driver of the Virgin Pendolino was so traumatised that he has not worked since.

Kathryn Gradwell said her husband was working 12-hour days, when the complaint was made, because several partners were off and there was inadequate cover.

She said that during that period he saw an elderly female patient and arranged for her to be admitted into a nursing home, instead of hospital, as he couldn’t find anything "acutely wrong" with her.

"He visited the lady a few days later and sent her to hospital where she got better initially but died a few weeks later," she said. "He felt he hadn’t done the best he could."

After the inquest the partners at Priorslegh Medical Centre said: "Our thoughts are with Mark’s family. Mark was well respected by patients and colleagues alike."

In a written statement to the inquest fellow GP, Dr Sylvia Glass said that Dr Gradwell felt the letter of complaint was a "personal attack" and the thought of facing a public inquiry was making him unwell.

She said the doctor diagnosed himself with "full blown clinical depression" for which she prescribed anti-depressants. But he wasn’t contemplating suicide because thoughts of his family prevented him from doing it, she told the coroner.
Chris Hudson