A woman who endured over four months of significant side effect after being wrongly given too much antipsychotic medication while sectioned has been awarded £8,000 in compensation.
There was an error with an identity check which led to her being detained under the incorrect name. This meant staff on the mental health ward were unaware she had already received a previous dose of Paliperidone, leading to an overdose.
The excess dosage caused significant side effects including fainting, drowsiness, limb and muscle problems, visual problems, weakness and discomfort.
She sought the help of Natasha Lindley, a trainee CILEX lawyer at Medical Solicitors Sheffield office, to make a medical negligence claim for her injuries.
Case summary
The claimant ‘C’ was assessed under the Mental Health Act and admitted to hospital under the section 2. However, there was an identity check error which led to C being detained under the wrong name.
She was transferred to another hospital three days later then placed on a section 3 three weeks later – both still under the wrong name.
Her identity was eventually confirmed weeks later and she was re-sectioned under the correct name. However, this meant that her medical history and administration information before then were not available on her electronic patient record.
The ward pharmacist could only see one dose of 100mg Paliperidone when checking C’s medication record at the beginning of January. As the titration dosage is 150mg on day 1 and 100mg on day 8, the pharmacist believed C hadn’t received the correct dosage and therefore advised a further two doses. C was also prescribed a two-week course of another antipsychotic medicine, Risperidone, to take after the second dose of Paliperidone.
C began experiencing side effects such as low blood pressure, jaw clenching, excess saliva, muscle aches, limb stiffness, involuntary eye spasms and general discomfort.
It was thought that the close proximity of taking the two medicines was causing the side effects. However, it was confirmed that C had already received a 150mg dose of Paliperidone a few months previously which the team had not seen when prescribing the extra two doses.
This meant that C had received four doses within a 44 day period. The Trust opened both a Significant Event Analysis (SEA) and Serious Incident Report which found that the overdose undoubtedly caused the significant side effects. The SEA called it an ‘unfortunate medication error’ that should never happen again.
C was eventually discharged from hospital by which time she was still experiencing some symptoms.
Litigation
An early Pre-Action Protocol letter of notification was sent in April 2024. In the letter of response received in June 2024, the defendant Trust admitted liability but reserved their position in relation to causation subject to expert evidence.
Another letter of response was received in October 2024, followed by an exchange of offers. The claim settled for £8,000 compensation in November 2024.
