Selected results
What our attorneys have done in this area
- $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
- $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
Patient safety
Suicide Prevention & Safe Discharge
When a patient is known to be at risk, a facility’s risk assessment, observation and discharge plan can be central to the family’s questions. We review the treatment and safety record to understand the decisions made and the care available at each transition. For an example of how a psychiatric discharge decision can become the focus of litigation, read the Carusillo verdict account; that case involved a disputed fatal event and is not presented as a suicide finding.
Why we focus here
These cases require an understanding of suicide and overdose risk assessment, observation levels and rounding, environmental safety, medication management and withdrawal protocols, discharge planning, staffing ratios, and the rules that govern behavioral health facilities. They also require lawyers willing to confront the argument defendants make: that the patient alone is to blame. We know how to answer it, because protecting the patient from that very risk was the facility's job.
Suicide cases
- Discharge of a patient still at risk, or without a meaningful safety plan or follow-up
- Observation checks that were missed, shortened, or documented but never performed
- Rooms and units with known hazards that were never corrected
- Risk assessments that were skipped, copied forward, or ignored
- Failure to communicate risk to the family or the next provider
- Suicides in emergency departments, jails, group homes, and other settings where risk was known
Overdose cases
- Deaths in detox and rehabilitation facilities from unmonitored withdrawal or inadequate medical supervision
- Patients who obtained drugs inside a facility responsible for keeping them out
- Dangerous prescribing, including unsafe combinations and doses
- Failure to respond to signs of overdose or have basic rescue measures available
- Discharge from treatment without accounting for the patient's lost tolerance and elevated risk
How we build these cases
We obtain the full chart, observation logs, video, staffing and training records, incident reports, and regulatory survey history. We consult psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, addiction medicine physicians, and facility administration experts. And we look past the individual employee to the owners and management companies whose staffing and admission decisions set the conditions for the failure.
A word to families
Losing someone to death by suicide or overdose brings grief often complicated by guilt and stigma. Asking whether a facility did its job is not about blame for your loved one. It is about learning the truth and protecting the next patient. We will listen without judgment, review the records at no cost, and give you an honest answer.
Questions we hear
Common questions
They told us patients who want to harm themselves will find a way. Is that a defense?
Facilities say it often. But suicide precautions exist because they work, and a facility that accepts an at-risk patient and then fails to follow its own precautions can be held responsible.
My family member used drugs voluntarily. Can there still be a case?
Yes. Treatment facilities and prescribers are paid to manage exactly that risk. The question is whether they met the standard of care.
How soon should we call?
As soon as you are able. Video and electronic records can be lost quickly, and filing deadlines are strict.