Jury Sides With Family In Suit Against Doctor

A jury has awarded $435,000 to the family of a woman who committed suicide by overdosing on Seconal prescribed by her physician.

The King County Superior Court jury returned the verdict last week against Bellevue physician Robert F. Kerr, ruling he was negligent in his treatment of Phillipa Erickson, 51, of Kirkland.

Erickson’s husband and son, Andrew and Craig Erickson, had claimed in their wrongful-death lawsuit that Kerr missed obvious signs of clinical depression in Erickson and over-prescribed Halcion, a sleeping drug they contended worsened her condition.

The jury initially set damages at $726,250, but reduced it by 40 percent after deciding Erickson was partly responsible.

Kerr, who had practiced in the region for 40 years, had maintained he saw no signs of depression and that Erickson renewed the Halcion prescriptions without consulting him.

A jury in 1991 jury had cleared Kerr of blame, but the case was retried after Erickson’s family won an appeal.