psychiatrist liability for patient released by judge

[nexus73]

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I'm sure this has been discussed before but I can't find any previous threads. I'm wondering what kind of liability risk a psychiatrist is looking at when a patient on a hold is released by a judge (or in some states by the county risk evaluator, often a social worker, before the commitment hearing). At my job it's often the case I recommend ongoing hospitalization but the judge disagrees and the patient is discharged AMA. When this happens there is no legal way I know of to keep the patient in the hospital against their wishes, and forcing them to stay would be breaking the law. Does anyone know of actual court cases which address this situation?

 

[splik]

if judge releases a patient then it means you have failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the pt meets criteria for hospitalization. Thus the overwhelming majority of times your liability is discharged. Though if you feel patient needs to be hospitalized because of imminent risk you could have a family member bring pt to ED immediately, or call 911. In order to be found negligent it would have be shown that your evidence for commitment fell below the standard of care, and that a reasonably prudent practitioner would have provided information to the judge that would have led to their ongoing commitment.

 

[Bartelby]

No, I think you would be in the clear. The only situation where I could imagine there could be a problem is if you failed to gather and present information about the case accurately, basically testifying inaccurately because of your own negligence. A lawyer might say you breached your duty to adequately evaluate the patient, which led to a faulty judicial holding and was thus a proximate cause of the bad outcome. But again, I have never heard of such a case and I think it would be very unlikely.

 

[nexus73]

if judge releases a patient then it means you have failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the pt meets criteria for hospitalization. Thus the overwhelming majority of times your liability is discharged. Though if you feel patient needs to be hospitalized because of imminent risk you could have a family member bring pt to ED immediately, or call 911. In order to be found negligent it would have be shown that your evidence for commitment fell below the standard of care, and that a reasonably prudent practitioner would have provided information to the judge that would have led to their ongoing commitment.

Thanks, ever read any cases like this where the psychiatrist was sued for not presenting evidence for commitment in a reasonably prudent way?

 

[splik]

Thanks, ever read any cases like this where the psychiatrist was sued for not presenting evidence for commitment in a reasonably prudent way?

No. Plus i dont think it would be the way of presenting. It would most likely have to be some serious omissions (like failing to mention the pt had attempted suicide in the hospital before). Remember it's really hard to get sued successfully, and even more so if the judge has released the pt! of all the things to be worried about, this would not be on my radar.