Mississippi, US – 18th March, 2018: The family of a man who committed suicide filed a lawsuit against Singing River Health System and Emergency Room Group, Ltd., claiming both the health system and group are liable for the wrongful death of Randy Vermilyea.
Vermilyea's initial suicide attempt was unsuccessful as Jackson County deputies spent 90 minutes imploring him to step down from the ledge on the Pascagoula River Bridge on Oct. 12, 2014.
Once he did, Vermilyea was transferred to Singing River Hospital by ambulance to the emergency room. After only spending only two hours in the hospital, he was discharged barefooted and called his daughter to pick him up.
According to his daughter, Julia, the hospital did not inform her of her father's suicide attempt earlier in the day. Just minutes after his discharge, Vermilyea jumped from the high-rise bridge in Moss Point and fell to his death in the Escatawpa River.
Now, Vermilyea's wife and daughter are suing the health system, Emergency Room Group Ltd., and doctors Jennifer Thomas-Taylor, Benjamin W. Hudson, and nurse Alva Britt. Julia claims has suffered emotional distraught after watching her father commit suicide.
SRHS asked in Circuit Court that the case be dismissed on the grounds of the Vermilyeas' failure to state a claim.
Because the lawsuit alleged negligence instead of claiming the doctors and nurse's committed an intentional act that proximately caused Randy to have an "irresistible impulse", doctors argued her case should be dismissed according to law.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Krebs issued the ruling stating the family could sue for medical negligence. SRHS appealed the decision to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld Krebs ruling, stating if the allegations were true, SRHS and staff "negligently failed to perform an adequate suicide risk assessment and then negligently discharged Randy Vermilyea from the hospital on his own, without shoes, and without notifying any of his relatives of his suicide attempt."
According to the dissenting opinion, SRHS failed to adequately protect Randy from himself.
"Here, suicide was the very thing that his hospitalization was supposed to prevent. The hospital and its staff, by undertaking treatment of the acutely suicidal Randy Vermilyea, assumed a duty of care toward him and it was foreseeable that a breach of that duty could result in his swift death from suicide. Negligently discharging a suicidal patient and leaving him to his own devices is not materially different from failing to provide a safe environment inside the facility."
The Supreme Court recurred the case to Krebs for trial, where the Vermilyeas would have to prove medical negligence.
Source: http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2018/03/hurley_man_commits_suicide_aft.html