Help will my doctor be liable if i ctb

[barkbark]

long story short, my current GP (a nurse practitioner i think is the proper term, not dr?) is giving me antidepressants because i can't currently see a psychiatrist (it's too long of a story to explain.) while in a conversation about my prior attempt, my mom told me that if i did ctb, my gp would be liable / would get in serious trouble because he was putting his neck out to give me antidepressant meds knowing i have a history of ctb attempts and self harm.

is this true or is this a scaremongering tactic by my mom? i really don't want to screw him over if i ctb, he's a really good and well meaning person and he's tried his best to help me out. i'm just sick and tired of living and want to be over it all and antidepressants never fully helped no matter which ones i tried. if location matters, it's in california

 

[Praestat_Mori]

This might depend on where you live and country specific laws.

 

[theendisnigh5]

I think it's a scaremongering tactic, I doubt a doctor can be blamed for the death of their patients unless they gave the patient the substance which killed them

 

[ResilientAF]

Possibly. I'm in UK. If drugs prescribed are safe in OD but if not, your prescriber/GP could get in bother. Was prescribed an AD unsafe in OD years ago by my GP, I OD using a few drugs, the AD being one. There was no mention of the drug in the OD despite my telling them what I'd taken. Just paracetamol which was significant. Nothing mentioned in the reports etc so I guess they did it to protect the GP. I did feel the wrath of the GP afterwards and his wife who was also a GP at the practice. He shouldn't have prescribed due to OD history but was obviously unaware. Who knows!

 

[barkbark]

Possibly. I'm in UK. If drugs prescribed are safe in OD but if not, your prescriber/GP could get in bother.

ok so what i'm gathering from everyone on this thread is he probably won't get in trouble as long as i don't OD on the meds but instead have a different method? ok sounds good. thank you all, you all are lifesavers! (haha)

 

[dinosavr]

Personally, I'm planning on mentioning my doctor and shrink in my suicide note, telling they helped me a lot to cope with my depression and that the last thing I want is for anyone to blame them. And that they did their best but at the end of the day, it was still my decision to go and there is nothing anyone could do to stop me.
I believe my family will respect it and they will not even consider suing them.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Undoubtedly a manipulation tactic on the part of your mother.

Clinicians lose patients to suicide all the time. Whether they can be held liable depends on whether they acted recklessly and carelessly in how they treated the person. I really don't think your NP's prescription of antidepressants to you meets that threshold (what else is he supposed to do to treat you?). Also if you said you were going to CTB immediately after the appointment and he let you leave then he'd probably be on the hook, but he wouldn't do that so it's moot.

One of the biggest things clinicians worry about in the aftermath of a suicide is being sued by the family. Given the way your mother talks it doesn't sound like he is in any danger of that.

It will cause problems to him regardless. But that's the way it goes.

 

[NekiLik]

I have written an anti-suicidal pact with my doctor, don't know if it's something just ceremonial or if it affects the doctor in some way.