A 60-year-old man with recent pituitary surgery developed persistent fatigue and depressive symptoms. Despite normal cortisol levels, he remained convinced his symptoms were due to hormonal deficiency rather than depression. Following a serious overdose attempt, he was admitted to psychiatry, improved during admission, and was discharged with antidepressant therapy and community follow-up. However, he ceased taking his psychiatric medications and died by hanging 3 days after discharge. The coroner found that while Alfred Health's care was appropriate, Monash Health's community team should have explicitly documented and reinforced medication compliance, particularly given his documented belief that he didn't have a psychiatric illness, recent serious overdose on stockpiled medications, and that his antidepressant had only been initiated 2 weeks prior and required dose titration for full therapeutic effect.
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major depressionsomatic symptom disorderpituitary macroadenomahypopituitarismsuicidal ideationanxiety
Procedures
pituitary adenoma resection
Contributing factors
Major depression with somatic preoccupation and overvalued ideas about cortisol deficiency
Medication non-compliance with antidepressant therapy
Insufficient documentation and reinforcement of medication compliance by community mental health team
Antidepressant commenced only 2 weeks prior to discharge with inadequate time to reach therapeutic effect
Patient's firm belief that he did not have a psychiatric illness
Recent serious polypharmacy overdose attempt
Lack of explicit exploration of medication adherence by CATT at follow-up visits
Coroner's recommendations
Monash Health CATT should affirm that medication compliance is a regular part of their clinical reviews for patients with pharmacological treatment plans for major depression, along with assessments of mental state, current situation and clinical risk
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