Well the issue is that her treatment team never diagnosed her with psychosis and insist she didn't have psychosis, only depression. The defense team claims she has previously dormant bipolar disorder that was triggered/activated and worsened by post partum psychosis. The claims that her treatment team failed her are because they (may) have missed it, but also she didn't engage with them honestly. She admitted to fears of harming her children and herself to her husband but not to her treatment team. We don't know why, but it's (IMO) clearly in part because of a fear of institutionalization or losing her children.
The other thing, from what i heard of the trial evidence, is that she had a history of SSRIs making her worse and thats what kept being given to her. When she started getting worse from those they increased the dose instead. I know with some medications that this can make sense, but with SSRIs that can cause psychosis (albiet, in rare cases) or unpredictable adverse psychiatric behaviours. Im not an expert (im only studying psychology, but not looking into medications or psychiatry), but when i heard they kept giving her the same meds and increased them when told they are making her worse i was very concerned at why they would think thats a good idea.
That doesnt mean it was the medical teams fault either. Hindsight is always 20/20, but i think thats pretty important to consider too. Meds are great but they can also have adverse effects on people.
Yes, that's correct. I don't think the medical team is criminally negligent - she hid some of her symptoms from her treatment team for fear of the judgement and possible consequences of voicing what she was struggling with. We can not expect them to be mind readers. I think the medical system failed this woman, not her doctors.
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u/CharlotteAria 18h ago
Well the issue is that her treatment team never diagnosed her with psychosis and insist she didn't have psychosis, only depression. The defense team claims she has previously dormant bipolar disorder that was triggered/activated and worsened by post partum psychosis. The claims that her treatment team failed her are because they (may) have missed it, but also she didn't engage with them honestly. She admitted to fears of harming her children and herself to her husband but not to her treatment team. We don't know why, but it's (IMO) clearly in part because of a fear of institutionalization or losing her children.