A 59-year-old woman who became dependent on the sedative lorazepam and entered rehab four times to taper off the drug was awarded £27,000 compensation.
She had been prescribed the highly addictive drug while undergoing investigations for unpleasant bowel and abdominal symptoms. However, she wasn’t told of the risk of dependence and habituation before it was prescribed.
Over the course of 18 months, the woman experienced a range of mental health issues relating to her benzodiazepine dependence, including suicidal thoughts and an overdose.
She sought the help of Miriam Bi, a specialist clinical negligence solicitor at Medical Solicitors, to bring a medical negligence claim against the hospital that prescribed her the drug.
Case summary
In December 2018, the claimant ‘C’ was having investigations for stomach and bowel symptoms. She had suffered with diarrhoea and lower tummy pain for three weeks which was also impacting her mental health. She was admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve where it was thought she may have inflammation of the oesophagus.
A few days later, she was prescribed lorazepam by a registrar. However, there was no discussion about the risk of taking such a highly addictive sedative or that they should only be taken for a short period of time.
C was still very anxious but found the dose helpful, particularly surrounding ongoing investigations including a colonoscopy.
By January, C told her GP that she felt she was becoming tolerant to the drug. Her abdominal symptoms were still ongoing, ten weeks later, which made her very anxious and tearful. A polyp was found during an MRCP and she then had her gallbladder removed in March.
After surgery, C struggled with lorazepam dependence and her mental health. It led to her taking an overdose of lorazepam and codeine, which she survived. She became increasingly agitated, had pressure in her head and was aware of her habitual use. She was seen by a psychiatrist who diagnosed C with a dissociative disorder and severe depression.
Knowing she needed to wean herself off the drug, C admitted herself into a rehabilitation clinic. By this time, she was taking 2mg of lorazepam daily, sometimes 2.5mg. This was immediately withdrawn and C was instead started on 10mg of diazepam, another benzodiazepine. This was gradually withdrawn over a two-week period.
C struggled with the detox. She felt emotional, anxious, hopeless, and had low mood and headaches. Group therapy made her anxiety worse. She discharged herself after two weeks in there.
Although she’d not taken it in two days, her GP prescribed her with diazepam. She continued with symptoms of withdrawal and feeling suicidal, so checked herself into another rehab clinic where she stayed for three weeks. When her withdrawal symptoms persisted, she returned for a second time a few months later. She was readmitted for a third time in February 2020 – 14 months after first being prescribed lorazepam.
Eventually, her withdrawal symptoms began to subside in the summer of 2020. She still has tremors in her hands, but is finally back to feeling how she did before she started taking lorazepam.
Litigation
In this case, Miriam’s client alleged that there was a failure by the registrar to properly advise her of the risks of lorazepam and substandard record-keeping in relation to the prescription.
In pre-action correspondence, the defendant admitted there should have been a more detailed recording of the conversation regarding lorazepam risks of habituation and that the failure to advise of these risks was a breach of duty.
The case settled out of court for £27,000 compensation which included a £12,000 claim for past losses such as care, treatment expenses and loss of earnings.