'distressing consequence' is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to describe an event or situation that has a particularly troubling result. For example, "The distressing consequence of losing her job left her feeling hopeless and stressed."
If the information had ended up in the wrong hands, it could have had distressing consequences".
Some are more malicious, like the money-grabbing Holocaust hoaxers whose false witness has distressing consequences for real survivors.
Someone cynical might suggest that research highlighting menstruation's distressing consequences bubbles to the surface every time the public feels anxious over women's expanding roles.
There must be competence, to start with, on the business side, just as there must be in any large undertaking, but it is a mistake to suppose that the business side of a paper should dominate, as sometimes happens, not without distressing consequences.
Dismissing the appeal on Thursday, Lady Justice Arden said: "MGN cannot expect this court to come to its rescue and find some way of finding the awards to be excessive when its staff have been responsible for disgraceful conduct with such distressing consequences, and when to boot it is quite unable itself to point to actual awards that it contends are wrong.
With 80 other hacking cases already in progress against MGN, and a further 50 individuals who have lodged claims, the Appeal Court's description of journalists responsible for "disgraceful conduct with such distressing consequences" is likely to act as a green light for further potential victims to come forward.
Ms Mead added: "It is really important we all reflect and learn from the distressing consequences for our patients and their families when we don't get everything right".
However in practice their activation occurred much more frequently, with potentially distressing consequences.
