Doctor killed herself after suspension for writing blog about bipolar agony
A GP who blogged about her battle with bipolar disorder hanged herself after being suspended from work when a patient read her online diary and complained to the surgery.
Weeks before her death, Dr Wendy Potts, 46, had written about the effect her condition was having on her life.
A patient at her surgery had seen her online confession and questioned whether she should be practising as a GP when she had the condition, an inquest heard.
Afterwards the mother-of-two told her partner: ‘How can I have been so stupid?’
By the time of her death, Dr Potts’s suspension had been lifted, but this was subject to other investigations being completed and she had still not been allowed back to work.
The well- liked doctor had been planning to start a new life with her family after buying an isolated farm in Wales, but she never realised her dream of escaping the pressures of her job.
Chesterfield Coroners’ Court heard that months earlier Dr Potts had experienced a manic high, but her mood dipped in the weeks before her death.
Her partner, Mark St John Jones, found her body at the family’s home in Chapel- en-le- Frith, Derbyshire, on November 24 last year.
Mr Jones said Dr Potts kept an online blog in which she stated that she suffered from bipolar disorder, a mental condition marked by alternating periods of elation and depression.
Unlike simple mood swings, each extreme episode of bipolar disorder – formerly known as manic depression – can last for several weeks, and some people may not experience a ‘normal’ mood very often.
Mr Jones said that a patient read the blog and complained to Dr Potts’s surgery, which was not named during the hearing.
The GP was suspended from the practice after the October half-term break, which deepened her mood.
Mr Jones said: ‘ Wendy said, “How can I have been so stupid?” – relating to the blog.’
The court heard Dr Potts was under psychiatric care and her medication was increased after the suspension.
Mr Jones said Dr Potts had experienced other work-related stresses, including dealing with the death of a patient. The inquest was also told that the keen cyclist and climber had previously tried to commit suicide.
But 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’s mother, Joan, told the court about the manic high her daughter had in February last year.
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.’
After the manic high, Dr Potts did not work for three months.
Mrs Potts added that her daughter ‘felt she had got more than she could cope with’ after she and her partner 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.’
James Newman, Derbyshire’s assistant coroner, adjourned the inquest to obtain and read a report relating to Dr Potts’s suspension from work.
The hearing will continue on a date to be fixed. ÷For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123, or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details.
‘How can I have been so stupid?’