Suit Filed for Veteran's Suicide, Lithium Could Have Prevented

Former Navy chief petty officer, Scott Alan Starr, committed suicide by shooting himself in his Virginia Beach home August 18, 2008.  The wife of Starr filed a $2.15 million lawsuit in Circuit Court claiming that her husband committed suicide because his psychiatrist, Daniel Broadhead, took him off lithium.  Starr was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and given lithium after a 2008 suicide attempt.  Broadhead deviated from the standard of medical care and took Starr off of the lithium three weeks before Starr actually committed suicide.

Also named in the lawsuit is Dominion Psychiatric Associates, where Broadhead was working when he treated Starr, according to the lawsuit.  Richmond attorney Ken Roeber, is representing Dominion and has said Broadhead stopped working for the practice in late 2008.  Hislicense was in good standing at that time, Rober also said.

Broadhead has had problems with his medical licensure in the past.  Broadhead’s license was revoked in Virginia in November 2009 after he was cited for lewd and offensive conduct with a patient during an office visit on August 27, 2008.  The Virginia state board also found that he had a sexual relationship with another patient from September 2007 to October 2008.  Broadhead provided this patient with a Valium tablet before each sexual encounter and disclosed personal information about himself.

Broadhead has also voluntarily surrendered his medical license in North Carolina , after the board of medicine there found problems with his record keeping and authorization of prescription drugs.

Hopefully, Broadhead will be held accountable for his actions in the case of Navy veteran Scott Starr.

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