DOCTOR SUICIDE Bipolar GP, 46, found hanged after being suspended from work for blogging about depression
DOCTOR SUICIDE
Bipolar GP, 46, found hanged after being suspended from work for blogging about depression
Dr Wendy Potts was found dead by her partner Mark St John Jones at her home on November 24 last year
Dr Wendy Potts was found hanged after being suspended from work by her husband last year
A DOCTOR who blogged about her battle with bipolar disorder hanged herself after a patient read the posts and complained to the surgery, an inquest heard.
Dr Wendy Potts, 46, was found dead by her partner Mark St John Jones at her home on November 24 last year.The mum kept an online blog which stated that she suffered from bipolar disorder – a mental health condition marked by periods of elation and depression.
Mr Jones told the inquest that a patient read his partner’s blog and complained to her surgery, questioning whether she should be practising as a GP when she had the condition.
The inquest heard Dr Potts was then suspended from the practice, which was not identified, after the October half-term.
Mr Jones said: “Wendy said, ‘how can I have been so stupid?’ – relating to the blog.”
The court heard Dr Potts, of Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbys., was under psychiatric care and her medication was increased after the suspension.
Before Dr Potts’ died, the suspension was lifted by the surgery but this was subject to other investigations being completed.
Mr Jones said Dr Potts experienced other work-related stresses – including dealing with the death of a patient – and had previously tried to commit suicide.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr David Walker said he was not aware of this attempt.
“She chose not to tell me this had happened,” he added.
Dr Potts’ mother Joan told the court about her daughter’s manic high in February.
She said: “She was shouting, jumping on the settee and talking in rhyme.
“It was very strange – I’ve never seen anything like it before.
“We didn’t see anything like it again.”
Her partner said said Wendy experienced other work-related stresses – including dealing with the death of a patient – and had previously tried to commit suicide
After the manic high, Dr Potts did not work for three months.
Mrs Potts added her daughter ‘felt she had got more than she could cope with’ after she and Mr Jones bought a smallholding in Cardigan, west Wales, in May.
However, Mr Jones said: “Wendy wrote in her blog that this was what she wanted.
“She wanted to get away from work.”
Coroner James Newman adjourned the inquest to obtain and read a report relating to Dr Potts’ suspension.
The hearing will continue on a date yet to be fixed.
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