Coroner slams delays over tinnitus sufferer who stabbed himself to death In the months leading up to what Coroner Dr Andrew Harris described as a 'huge tragedy', Mr McIndoe visited two GPs, including a private Harley Street specialist, and sought help at three different hospitals for his debilitating condition. He was diagnosed with 'adjustment disorder' and was due to start a combined treatment with an ear, nose and throat specialist and cognitive behavioural therapy when he died. The inquest heard he was even prepared to have surgery to make him deaf if it would stop the noise. Shirley McIndoe told the hearing that the day after the gig, her husband was 'cross with himself' for not taking ear plugs. She said: 'When it first happened he wasn't too bothered about it because he thought it would subside, and the friend he had been with also had ringing in his ears that day. But it was a constant irritation. 'He didn't get a night of sleep after that until he went to hospital.' The inquest heard that Mr McIndoe, a former psychiatric nurse, visited his GP surgery three times and was referred to see an ear, nose and throat specialist at King's College Hospital. He later visited the hospital, where he was told it had no specialists in the field, before turned away by St Thomas and eventually seen as an urgent case at the Royal London. An appointment letter arrived on November 1 that year, the court heard. 'It came through from Lewisham for St Thomas' Hospital,' said Mrs McIndoe. But it was all too late by then. He was so stressed - as far as Robert was concerned, he never heard back from anyone. Dr Harris asked: 'Did he make clear the urgency of this?' She replied: 'I can't believe that he didn't - if someone walks round three hospitals asking to be seen.' Less than a fortnight before his death, Mr McIndoe attended A&E at Lewisham Hospital, where he was prescribed sleeping tablets and a doctor promised to fax his GP for an appointment the following day. But when he visited his surgery, the Wells Park Practice in Sydenham, the following day, he was told that no note had been received. 'He came away from that appointment really, really distressed - and felt the GP didn't believe him and was treating him like a malingerer,' his wife said. The day after the appointment, on October 19, he left a suicide note before taking an overdose of the sleeping tablets at the family home in Sydenham Park Road. 'He said he hadn't wanted to wake up because he couldn't bear the thought that he was no good to us,' said Mrs McIndoe. He just wanted to sleep and not be suffering. They kept him in hospital for three days and I thought that had been the low point, and we were moving forward. The court heard Mr McIndoe had tried treating himself with alternative therapies, including acupuncture, and even considered permanently deafening himself by having his auditory nerve cut. 'He was very distressed, saying he didn't think he could go on,' his wife said. It was awful, he looked terrible, and he just felt so bad all the time. 'He was desperate that it was never going to change - he didn't know if he could live like this.' Following his admission at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust in Lewisham for the overdose, Mr McIndoe told a psychiatrist he 'was prepared to be deaf or dead' if he could get no relief from the maddening ringing, the inquest heard. Dr Helen Stinson said: 'He accepted death as a side-effect of stopping the noise. 'He had, most likely, acute noise trauma, and my assessment was that he couldn't reassure himself or I that he wasn't going to repeat his overdose or take his life. There were several actions he had taken which would deeply alarm a physician - he had written a suicide note and made financial arrangements to pay his mortgage for the next two months. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Nicholas Dunn, who saw him on the day of his discharge, added: 'It was this hopelessness and a belief he would never get better. The secure ward, where Mr McIndoe had been sectioned for three days, agreed to let him leave to attend an appointment with a private tinnitus specialist. 'I thought he would be manageable in the community,' said Dr Dunn. 'I thought there was a risk of a further overdose, because of his previous behaviour, but I didn't have him down as a committing suicide - it was a shock.' Derek Nicoll, head of clinical pathways for SLAM, admitted there were failings in communication between the agencies and staff. Mr Nicoll said there has since been an audit of procedure and changes made. The family's lawyer Conor Dufficy accused doctors of neglect but the coroner said to make such a finding he would need evidence the failings caused his death. Dr Harris said: 'There were failings in his care but I cannot include in the verdict that over-all care failed him without having evidence of causation. Having said that, the fact that this man repeatedly requested referral and walked across London from hospital to hospital, paid for private consultation, was seen by an ENT specialist and a psychiatrist, but had not started treatment three months after damage to his ears, is a shameful reflection of professional communications and access to services in the NHS. He said he could not record a verdict of suicide because there was no evidence of intent on that day. A profile on business networking site LinkedIn lists Mr McIndoe's interests as acting, art, film-making, health, people and theatre. Born in Birmingham, he graduated in fine arts from St Andrews University in 1981 before being awarded an MBA by Open University in 2005, and later a masters in theatre studies from Rose Bruford College. Verdict: Open verdict.