Supreme Court eyes suicide liability of hospital that discharged love-sick young man later found hanging from a tree

The disposition, delivered by Hecht, is predictible: Health care provider not liable - Jury award reversed. Two justices, however, wrote separately, pumping life back into the Jeffersonian thesis (articulated in a TEXAS LAWYER interview earlier this year) that the Court is not monolithic -- recent media attention and concern over an excessive number of anonymous per curiam opinions notwithstanding.

Providence Health Center v. Dowell, No. 05-0386 (Tex. May 23, 2008)(Nathan Hecht)
(HCLC, suicide risk management, medical treatment) (court concludes that discharge from Defendant's ER did not proximately cause young man's death by hanging.)

Twenty-one-year-old Lance Dowell was taken to the emergency room and treated for a superficial, self-inflicted cut on his left wrist. Distraught over losing his girlfriend, he had been threatening to kill himself earlier, but he had calmed down and did not want to be hospitalized. He was released on his promises that he would not commit suicide, would stay with his parents, and would go to the local Mental Health and Mental Retardation center for a follow-up assessment. His mother, a registered nurse, was with him and did not object to his release. He went to a family reunion and to a rodeo with his brother, repeatedly assuring his mother that he was okay. His mother and brother believed him, and no one else reported anything unusual in his behavior. But thirty-three hours after his release, he hanged himself. Lance’s parents now contend that his tragic death was proximately caused by the negligence of the emergency room physician and nurse in releasing him. We hold that any connection between his release and death is too attenuated for proximate cause. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of a divided court of appeals[1] and render judgment for petitioners.

PROVIDENCE HEALTH CENTER A/K/A DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY HEALTH SERVICES OF WACO AND DEPAUL CENTER A/K/A DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY HEALTH SERVICES OF WACO v. JIMMY AND CAROLYN DOWELL, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF JONATHAN LANCE DOWELL, DECEASED; from McLennan County; 10th district (10-02-00026-CV, 167 S.W.3d 48, 03-30-05) (Dissent by Justice Tom Gray)- consolidated with - Pettit, D.O. v. Dowell (Tex. May 23, 2008)05-0788 JAMES C. PETTIT, D.O. v. JIMMY AND CAROLYN DOWELL, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF JONATHAN LANCE DOWELL, DECEASED; from McLennan County; 10th district (10-01-00420-CV, ___ S.W.3d ___, 08-10-05)

Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 59.1, after granting the petitions for review and without hearing oral argument, the Court reverses the court of appeals' judgment and renders judgment.

Justice Hecht delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justice Scott Brister, Justice Paul Green, Justice Phil Johnson, and Justice Don R. Willett joined.

Justice Dale Wainwright delivered an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

Justice Harriet O'Neill delivered a dissenting opinion, in which Chief Justice Jefferson and Justice Medina joined.