Editorial

This issue is devoted to reports of two tragic mental health cases involving patients who committed suicide. Both involved allegations under the Human Rights Act, an increasingly common feature of such claims against the NHS.

The key distinction between the actions was that in Savage the patient was detained under the Mental Health Act whereas Rabone concerned a voluntary patient who was on home leave at the relevant time. It is quite understandable, and indeed entirely fair and reasonable, that the duties owed by the State in such circumstances should differ.

Both rulings make it abundantly clear that damages in this type of claim will be modest. As Mackay J conceded, they could only amount to a ‘symbolic acknowledgement’ of loss. Legal costs are, therefore, likely to be highly disproportionate to damages, and it remains to be seen if many other bereaved relatives will choose to pursue such actions in the future, or if they will be content to restrict their claims to allegations in negligence. The prospect of large numbers of new Human Rights claims will be daunting for the NHS in these times of straightened public finances.