Dr Richard Harding and DSN donations
Dr Richard Harding was a consultant in intensive care medicine and anaesthesia. Richard died in autumn 2017 - his family and many friends have recently held a memorial service for him. DSN was honoured to be nominated as a charity to receive donations made at the service.
Richard took his own life in October 2017 soon after a recurrence of a depression which was, in part, triggered by his first experience of a General Medical Council (GMC) complaint, just as he and his family prepared to emigrate to New Zealand. Although he had excellent support from his colleagues and was confident that he would be exonerated, which is indeed what happened in due course, the terrible timing of the complaint combined with the stress of the move to another country caused him to have his first episode of depression in 23 years. He had had one previous episode of depression in his early 20s, which had responded well to treatment.
Richard was three days away from his first appointment with a psychiatrist when he died. He is survived by his wife, Kate, also a doctor and two children.
Kate has written about her family's experience in an article in the Guardian. Click here
to read the article.
