Selected results
What our attorneys have done in this area
- $77.7 million psychiatric malpractice verdict — read the case account
- $27 million psychiatric malpractice settlement
- $9 million pre-suit settlement for the suicide of a child who was wrongfully discharged from a mental health facility
- $7.6 million pre-suit psychiatric malpractice settlement
- $5 million pre-suit settlement for a patient’s overdose at a drug rehabilitation facility
- $2 million settlement for a wrongful death caused by psychiatric malpractice
- $1 million pre-suit settlement against a care facility whose failure to supervise a resident led to her suicide
- $1 million settlement against a psychiatrist in a suicide case
Continuity of care
Negligent Discharge From a Psychiatric Facility
A decision to discharge someone in psychiatric or behavioral-health treatment requires attention to the person’s condition, medications, level of care, and plan for follow-up. When those decisions are disputed, records and testimony about treatment and handoff matter. In the publicly reported Carusillo case, a jury considered alleged medication-management and discharge failures after a patient left a residential program. Read the sourced account of Natalie Woodward’s $77.7 million verdict.
Cases we handle
- Premature or unsafe discharge while a patient is still suicidal or unstable, or without a workable safety plan
- Inpatient suicide and self-harm involving missed observation checks, falsified rounds, or unsafe rooms
- Failure to assess suicide or violence risk at intake, during a stay, or at discharge
- Patient-on-patient and staff assaults that proper supervision would have prevented
- Medication and detox failures, including overdoses, dangerous prescribing, and unmonitored withdrawal
- Understaffing and corporate neglect by owners and management companies that put census ahead of safety
Questions we hear
Common questions
Is a facility responsible when a patient takes their own life?
It can be. When a facility accepts a patient because of suicide risk, protecting that patient from the risk is the job. If it fails to follow its own precautions or accepted standards, it can be held liable.
Who can be sued?
Psychiatrists, therapists, nurses, and techs, as well as the hospital, its parent company, and its management.
How are these cases proven?
Through observation logs, video, staffing records, state and federal survey findings, and the testimony of psychiatric and nursing experts.
How long do I have to file a lawsuit?
Often two years in Georgia, but the rules vary with the facts and the state. Call promptly.
Do you take cases outside Georgia?
Yes. We work with local counsel on behavioral health cases around the country.