Psychiatric clinic can be liable for patient's rampage

By Correy Stephenson The Daily Record Newswire A mental health professional and psychiatric clinic can be held liable for a former patient's shooting rampage, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled. The patient entered his therapist's office and began shooting. He killed a doctor and a patient and wounded several others in a group therapy session before killing himself. An injured patient brought suit against the clinic and the doctors, alleging they were liable for common-law medical malpractice for failing to warn her of or protect her from a threat. She claimed the gunman had made threatening statements and come to the defendants' office with a gun on a prior occasion. A jury found for the plaintiff, but the defendants appealed. They argued that a state statute abrogated the plaintiff's claim. An appellate court reversed a denial of their motion for a directed verdict. But the supreme court disagreed. "[The statute] is not comprehensive and does not cover all the details of a mental health professional's duty to provide reasonable care. "In fact, the statutory language is expressly limited to warning or protecting third persons under very limited circumstances, i.e., when (1) a patient makes a threat of physical violence, (2) the threat is against a reasonably identifiable third person, and (3) the patient has the apparent intent and ability to carry out the threat. "The statutory language never addresses a mental health professional's other common-law duties to his or her patients. ... "Nothing in the statute indicates that the legislature intended to completely abrogate a mental health professional's common-law special relationship duty to his or her patients," the court said. Michigan Supreme Court. Dawe v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, No. 137092. March 30, 2010. Lawyers USA No. 993-1782.. Published: Mon, Apr 26, 2010

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