Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances of the Death of Bernard ...

ase for any beneficial effect. He noted that the decision not to prescribe tegretol was
made by the doctor at Garth after a comprehensive initial examination.
Medication for dental pain
12.15 During August, Sonny Lodge reported dental pain. Dr Wright considered the care
plan appropriate in that it started with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication with
progression to a stronger analgesic at a subsequent appointment and a dental
appointment was arranged. Penicillin V antibiotic medication was also prescribed. Dr
Wright advises that this practice is now discouraged as the medication has limited
effectiveness but such a prescription given in 1998 would not have been outside
reasonable and acceptable primary care practice.
Medication records
12.16 Dr Wright noted, however, that entries relating to the co-codamol in the
Prescription and Administration Record Chart were confusing in places. Between 23
August and 27 August the only two entries are DNA (did not attend) made on the
evening of 24 August and the morning of 25 August. (Mr Lodge was in Liverpool those
days attending Huyton police station and subsequently the magistrates’ court.) Dr Wright
advised that it might be that positive entries of administering the drug have not been
recorded but that is not in accordance with best practice.
Sonny Lodge’s mental health
12.17 The psychiatrist at Warrington hospital on 27June summarised his impression of
Sonny Lodge’s condition as: dissocial personality disorder; adjustment disorder or
possibly mild depression; and that he had no suicidal plans. He recommended but did
not prescribe cipramil, an antidepressant, as well as the anticonvulsant, tegretol. Having
had access to more extensive records than were available to the hospital psychiatrist, Dr
Wright advised that the diagnosis seemed to be in keeping with the behaviours
displayed by Mr Lodge and there was nothing in the bundle of papers to suggest an
underlying depressive illness.
The meaning of ‘personality disorder’
12.18 Dr Wright elaborated on the meaning of the diagnosis of dissocial personality
disorder. He said the term more usually used now was antisocial personality disorder.
The characteristic traits for the classification were: “lability [instability] of mood;
99