Ewing v. Northridge Hosp. Med. Ctr.

Mental Health – Duty to Warn

Ewing v. Northridge Hosp. Med. Ctr., No.
B166525 (Cal. Ct. App. July 27, 2004)

The
family of a victim killed by a mental health patient appealed a dismissal
of a wrongful death claim on the grounds that a social worker and physicians
failed to discharge their duty to warn of a patient’s foreseeable danger to
their son.

The patient in question killed the boyfriend of his former girlfriend and
then committed suicide. Two days prior to the incident, after revealing to
his parents that he was suicidal and wanted to kill the victim, the patient
was rushed to the hospital in which a licensed clinical social worker evaluated
him. The social worker believed he met the criteria for involuntary hospitalization.
California law permits certain professionals to temporarily and involuntarily
commit a person whom the professional believes presents a danger to himself,
herself or others or is gravely disabled. The family claimed that the hospital
and doctors had a duty to warn. The patient was discharged a day later and
killed the victim.

The trial court dismissed the case on the grounds that expert evidence is
required to establish a psychotherapist’s liability for failure to warn. The
Court of Appeals of the Second District held that the district court erred
because the communication of the threat of physical violence need not come
directly from the patient to the psychotherapist; therefore, expert testimony
was not required. Also, the Appeals Court ruled that a psychotherapist could
be found liable at a common law for failing to predict a patient’s dangerous
behavior if other mental health practitioners, adhering to standards of the
profession, would have predicted such behavior.