Plaintiff’s expert testified at trial with regard to whether a particular path would have prevented A.W.’s suicide, “I cannot list a specific—one specific path that [Robinson] might have taken that would have prevented suicide reliably,” and repeated that “a cluster of a cumulative number of things” led to A.W.’s suicide. He further conceded that, even had the providers done everything correctly, A.W. still might have committed suicide. But, if the providers had taken an adequate history, “several cumulative factors would have showed up, maybe, just maybe more likely than not preventing her suicide.”
The defense expert testified that “suicide in teenagers is usually impulsive. It’s unforeseeable. It’s just an action that they take without thinking of the consequences. And, sadly, most of the time it cannot be prevented.” Of the two thousand teenage suicides per year, the defense expert testified that “the majority of those are impulsive.” The defense expert asserted with “a reasonable degree of medical probability” that A.W.’s suicide “was an impulsive, unpreventable act.” However, he conceded that “an ordinary prudent physician can foresee that if you—if you don’t properly treat a 14 year old with depression that suicide can occur.”
The Texas medical malpractice jury returned a multi-million-dollar verdict, which the trial court reduced to $1.285 million, plus interest, on final judgment.
The Texas Supreme Court stated: “Dr. Moss [plaintiff’s expert] presented no factual, verifiable basis for concluding what A.W. would have done had the medical providers asked questions outside her mother’s presence, followed up, or provided a list of counselors or other treatment options. Dr. Moss’s testimony also did not exclude the alternative possibility proposed by Dr. Correa [the defense expert]: that A.W.’s suicide was a spontaneous, impulsive—and thus, unpreventable—act. There is no evidence in the record at all that the jury could rely on to exclude this possibility. “[W]hen the facts support several possible conclusions, only some of which establish that the defendant’s negligence caused the plaintiff’s injury, the expert must explain to the fact finder why those conclusions are superior based on verifiable medical evidence, not simply the expert’s opinion” … There is no evidence that the providers’ care proximately caused A.W.’s suicide. We therefore reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and render judgment for the providers.”
Source Pediatrics Cool Care v. Thompson, No. 21-0238.
If you lost a loved one due to suicide in Texas or in another U.S. state for which medical negligence may have caused or contributed to the death, you should find a Texas medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your suicide claim for you and represent you or your loved one’s family in a suicide malpractice case, if appropriate.
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