A lawyer tells MPR about a case in which communication and care coordination between a psychiatrist and a sleep specialist ended with the initial referral and was linked to a tragic outcome.
In this case, the referring physician was Dr P, a psychiatrist. He had been treating the patient, Ms W, 38, for about a decade following two suicide attempts in her late 20’s. Ms W was being treated for depression, and was taking lorazepam and citalopram. For several months, Ms W had been complaining to Dr P about sleep issues, including difficulty sleeping and restless legs syndrome.
