Consultant accused over girl’s ‘suicide attempt’

The teenager had been admitted to receive 24-hour support after she made a previous attempt to kill herself during classes in school just two months earlier.

Dr Tony Livesey, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, is accused by the General Medical Council of undermining her mental stability with his decision to remove her from the Oakwood Young People’s Centre in Sheffield.

The GMC also said he was guilty of misconduct because the discharge was at short notice, was not clinically indicated and was inconsistent with the girl’s agreed care plan. Dr Livesey denies misconduct.

At various meetings during her time at Oakwood in May and June 2009 the patient’s parents said Dr Livesey was “flippant”, “unprofessional” and “rude”, with one conversation ending with him squaring up to the father as he leant his face up to his nose.

Ciaran Rankin, counsel for the GMC, said the girl, known for legal reasons as Patient A, had attempted suicide on two occasions before she was admitted to Oakwood, run by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

It was said that her problems stemmed from allegations that she had been raped by a boy a number of years earlier.

“In broad terms it appears that Patient A was making some progress in inpatient work,” he said.

However her parents became concerned that her condition was deteriorating and the first day of her return to school by the patients was described as “disastrous”.

Two days later the decision was taken to discharge her from Oakwood, a move the 14-year-old’s father said had left him “horrified” and “shocked”.

He said his daughter was “distraught” and “felt alone and abandoned”.

After being discharged Patient A’s father was called by her school, where her teachers said they were disturbed to find a note his daughter had written in which she said she was thinking of killing herself and had printed out methods on how to achieve it. The next day she tried to kill herself at the school.

Cross-examining, Dr Livesey – representing himself – questioned Patient A’s suicide attempt following her discharge and put it to Mr S that she only took two pills followed by another two later, before she informed a teacher.

He suggested to Mr S that he had been mistaken in thinking that he had been flippant towards him in one meeting and had invaded his personal space at another.

The hearing, which is scheduled to last two weeks, continues.