Father who stabbed daughter loses legal fight with NHS trust over his mental health care

A father-of-three who stabbed one of his daughters during a psychotic episode has lost a High Court fight against the NHS trust providing his care.

In February 2015, Marc Traylor repeatedly stabbed Kitanna Traylor, 23, before he was shot three times by armed police officers.

Miss Traylor suffered significant physical and psychiatric injuries, while Mr Traylor had a cardiac arrest and a brain injury due to a lack of oxygen.

Following the incident, Mr Traylor, 47, now uses a wheelchair, is fed through a gastric tube and requires 24-hour care.

Mr Traylor, from Kent, brought a claim against the Kent and Medway NHS Social Care Partnership Trust, arguing it had been negligent in treating his mental illness, leading to the incident and his resulting injuries.

Miss Traylor also brought a claim against the trust, saying that it failed to take steps to protect her right to life.

The trust opposed the claims, accepting that while a decision to discharge Mr Traylor from secondary care was “not handled correctly”, all other allegations of negligence were denied.

Mr Traylor was previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia with morbid jealousy, with the court hearing he had been fixed on the false belief his wife was having an affair and that someone was plotting to kill him.

He began monthly antipsychotic medication injections in February 2013 and later asked to move onto daily tablets, which he did not take, before attacking his daughter.

Lawyers for the Kent and Medway NHS Social Care Partnership Trust argued that the incident was caused by Mr Traylor’s decision to stop taking his medication and that he “voluntarily accepted the risk that he might act as he did” when he went against medical advice.

In a judgment on Thursday, Mr Justice Johnson ruled in favour of the trust in both claims, finding it was not liable.

The court heard Mr Traylor was detained in November 2012 and was later placed on the slow-release injections for his condition, spending time in hospital and under a community treatment order.

In June 2014, Mr Traylor was moved onto oral tablets, with his doctor Marcos Pisaca telling the court he was “adamant” about the decision, which he was entitled to make.

Mr Justice Johnson said: “Marc Traylor agreed to take the medication and agreed that if he changed his mind and decided to come off the medication, he would inform the mental health clinicians so that he could be closely monitored.”

The judge continued: “He never took the tablets. He threw them away when walking the dogs.

“He lied to people, including (his wife) Nicole Traylor and those who came to see him after he was discharged to review his progress, and said that he was taking the medication, when he was not.”

Lawyers for Mr Traylor argued he was not advised by his doctor to remain on the long-lasting monthly injections for his treatment.

But Mr Justice Johnson said he did not think this evidence was reliable and that he had “consistently lied to others” about taking his medication.

Mr Justice Johnson found that it was more likely than not that the doctor did consider the risks and considered the monthly injections to be the preferable option, although the evidence was also partially unreliable.

He added: “Although the contemporaneous notes do not record in terms that Marc Traylor was advised to continue with his depot injections, I have concluded that it is likely that this advice was given.”

The judge added that Mr Traylor’s doctor could not force him to stay on the injections.

Mr Justice Johnson said: “The events show that he was determined to come off his medication. As soon as he had the opportunity to do that, he did. And he lied about it.”

The judge concluded: “The trust took reasonable steps to avoid the risk that Marc Traylor would suffer a relapse of his psychotic illness.”

He added: “Regular monitoring was carried out to ensure that Marc Traylor was not relapsing and that he was taking his medication.

“This did not pick up that Marc Traylor had stopped taking his medication, in part because he lied to Nicole Traylor and to the mental health care team staff.”

Copyright (c) PA Media Ltd. 2022, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) The Kent and Medway NHS Social Care Partnership Trust.