Texas Supreme Court Holds Hospital’s Negligence Did Not Cause Patient’s Suicide. Friday, the Texas Supreme Court held that proof of medical negligence, without proof of causation, will not support a judgment in favor of parents whose son committed suicide.
The plaintiffs. 21-year-old son, Lance attempted suicide after a breakup with a girlfriend. By the time police got him to the emergency room, he calmed down. Lance was released on a promise that he would not attempt suicide, would stay with his parents and would seek mental-health treatment. Thirty-three hours later a friend found him hanging from a tree. A jury found the emergency-room doctor, the hospital and the medical center.s psychiatric treatment center negligent in releasing him. The court of appeals affirmed.
Although the Texas Supreme Court agreed that there was legally sufficient evidence of medical negligence, it nonetheless reversed the lower courts. A majority of the court held the connection between the patient.s release from the hospital and his death was too attenuated to establish that the release proximately caused the suicide, and therefore causation was not established as a matter of law. Lance had complete control over whether to stay or go and the plaintiffs did not argue that there were grounds to hold him involuntarily. Because no evidence established that Lance could have been hospitalized involuntarily, that he would have consented to hospitalization, that a short-term hospitalization would have made his suicide unlikely, that he exhibited any unusual conduct following his discharge, or that any of his family or friends believed further treatment was required, the defendants. negligence was too attenuated from the suicide to have been a substantial factor in bringing it about.
A three judge dissent disagreed and stated the plaintiffs presented expert evidence that the suicide-risk assessment performed in the emergency room was so cursory and incomplete as to breach the standard of care and that, had the proper assessment been performed, the standard of care would have required different treatment to be prescribed. The dissenting judges said the majority opinion constructs new legal hurdles that are insurmountable, particularly when, as here, the provider.s alleged negligence results in death. Providence Health Care v. Jimmy and Carolyn Dowell (Tex.2008).
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