Suicide is the number one driver of psychiatric malpractice claims, especially when the clinician fails to recognize the seriousness of a patient’s condition and does not properly assess or treat him or her. But what should a clinician reasonably know and what should s/he reasonably do, especially given the fact that it is impossible to predict which of the individuals who think of suicide actually follow through? And how does a family member know if his or her loved one is getting the care that s/he needs, especially at such a critical time?

Today’s show explores suicide and malpractice and how patients and their families can proactively get better mental health care for suicidal loved one and recognize when the treatment s/he is getting is substandard or negligent – before it is too late.   

With a legal background ranging from duties as a U.S. Air Force Courts Martial Judge lawyer to services as Texas' top drug traffic prosecutor, Skip Simpson, B.A., J.D. has created a private law practice that has covered a wide range of intriguing matters both civil and criminal. Now, he has limited his practice primarily to psychiatric and psychological malpractice. Nationally recognized for his expertise in suicide and repressed memory cases, Mr. Simpson has to look at suicide from every possible angle in preparing a case, and he has to make his findings easily understandable to a jury.