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Warning: This article discusses suicide and may be distressing for some readers.
A woman who tried to take her own life claimed her actions were linked to medication she was on to ease complications from surgery she’d had years earlier.
The woman went to ACC seeking compensation for an injury she says occurred from the suicide attempt but she was turned down because it didn’t meet the criteria for a personal injury claim.
But now, a court has instructed the Crown accident insurer to look again at whether the woman was entitled to cover for personal injury.
A court has ordered ACC to re-think its decision to decline cover for a woman following a suicide attempt linked to post-surgery complications. Photo / 123RF
An organisation that supports families bereaved by suicide, or those that are suicidal, told NZME it was a “significant decision”.
A spokesperson for Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust | Te Whare Oranga Ngākau said the decision could have wide-ranging ramifications for people suffering mental distress who are receiving a prescribed medication that adversely affects their lives.
The woman, whose name and all identifying details were suppressed, first attempted suicide in 2000. She was dealing with a marriage breakdown and had difficulty coping with children and a career adjustment at the time.
Ten years later, she received follow-up by psychiatric support after a second attempt.
She was taking medication prescribed for pain relief, later found to be a drug more commonly prescribed to people with anxiety disorders.
The District Court has found that a reasonable interpretation of the woman’s claim was based on a treatment injury caused by the effects of prescribed medication.
The judgment, released earlier this month, followed a decision by ACC in August 2022 to decline cover for the suicide attempt, saying it did not comprise a personal injury. An application for a review of that decision was dismissed in December 2022 for the same reason.
The woman then lodged an appeal in the District Court in January 2023.
Judge Peter Spiller has now set aside the reviewer’s decision and has directed the corporation to undertake a fresh assessment of the claim, including whether the woman was entitled to cover for a treatment injury related to her suicide attempt in September 2000.
He said the woman’s position was that because treatment for chronic pain led to her attempt on her own life, it should be regarded as a treatment injury because it caused physical and psychological consequences.
“These physical consequences, and the other minor physical injuries suffered by the appellant in the suicide attempt, are collectively a treatment injury,” Judge Spiller said.
The woman said in a statement in the review proceedings that there was “so much shame” attached to what had occurred.
“Attempted suicides are seldom talked about, but in 2000 it was even harder,” she said.
In 2013, consultant psychiatrist Dr Pamela Bennett provided an opinion on the causes and impact of the woman’s suicide attempt.
In 1980, she had a knee operation and was given a commonly prescribed drug for pain relief, to which she was found to be allergic. Two years later, she was back in hospital to have a screw removed from her knee and was offered the same pain relief but under a different name.
This time, she was reported as having an anaphylactic reaction that left her unconscious.
The woman then applied to ACC for medical misadventure, which was declined. The woman claimed she was told in a psychiatric review that her pain was psychological in origin.
A further review by legal and medical experts judged her as having a 42 per cent disability as a result of the time she had spent lying down following the anaphylactic reaction and the claim was subsequently accepted by ACC.
Bennett said the woman had received various treatments for the chronic pain over the years, none of which were very successful.
In 1997, she was prescribed clonazepam as well as amitryptilline for pain relief.
Bennett said clonazepam was a benzodiazepam that was used as an “anxiolytic” for people with anxiety disorders.
Neuropsychiatrist Gil Newburn said clonazepam “likely played a material role” in the appellant attempting suicide and that amitriptyline taken in excessive amounts caused “numerous harmful physiological effects”.
The woman said in the first year after starting the clonazepam she began to have constant thoughts of suicide but was not feeling depressed at the time.
Her attempted suicide in 2000 resulted in a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bennett said.
The woman continued to have what was described as “random and frequent suicidal thoughts” but she was not depressed and remained at work.
One night in 2010, after a disagreement with her husband, she locked herself in a room after acting “impulsively”. She was found the next morning and taken to hospital.
It was Bennett’s opinion the case was a continuation of the original medical misadventure and the woman did have a mental injury arising from the event in 2000.
The woman remained on the medication until February 2011 when she stopped taking it on a doctor’s advice.
The suicide prevention trust told NZME that physical and psychological harm that arose from prescribed medication was no different from other medical misadventures where ACC cover was provided.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
