The decedent, Zachary Taylor Anderson, was admitted to the Indian River Memorial Hospital (“Hospital”)
emergency room after he made deep cuts to his arms, legs, and body. The Hospital had him taken into custody for involuntary examination under the Baker Act. § 394.463(1)(b)2., Fla. Stat. (2021) (allowing a mentally ill person to be taken into custody for involuntary examination where “[t]here is a substantial likelihood that without care or treatment the person will cause serious bodily harm to himself or herself or others in the near future, as evidenced by recent behavior”).
While unrestrained in a hospital bed in a hallway of the emergency room, decedent grabbed scissors from a nurse’s pocket and ran towards some sheriff’s deputies, who shot and killed him. The decedent’s estate brought a wrongful death action against the Hospital, claiming negligence, vicarious liability, and gross negligence. The complaint alleged that the Hospital was negligent in failing to protect decedent from himself and others and had a duty to prevent him from obtaining sharp objects. The plaintiff asserted that the nurse, who was aware decedent had been “Baker Acted,” was negligent in leaving the scissors accessible.
The plaintiff claimed that the nurse leaving the scissors in her pocket was a security lapse and a breach of the Hospital’s duty “to ensure the safety and security of mental health patients.” The plaintiff likened this to a premises liability case and alleged that the Hospital created a “dangerous condition.” The Hospital moved to dismiss. The trial court denied the motion and agreed with the plaintiff that the complaint had carefully avoided alleging medical negligence and relied on an ordinary negligence standard.
The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida Fourth District stated in its February 19, 2025 opinion: “Here, as in Browne and Perez, the decedent was recently admitted to the Hospital, which had a medical duty to supervise him during his care. The plaintiff’s claim is not based on any acts that non-medical staff took as security measures. The claim is that the Hospital and its medical staff should have taken safety precautions due to decedent’s medical condition, i.e., his mental illness and recent history of self-harm. This is akin to the failure to supervise and protect the patients at fall-risk in Browne and Perez. The “security lapse” at the heart of the plaintiff’s claim is based on the Hospital failing to protect the decedent from a risk arising from his medical condition. The plaintiff does not dispute that a claim alleging that the Hospital failed to restrain decedent to the bed or isolate him would sound in medical negligence. Here, any claim that decedent should have been restrained appears to rely on the professional standard of care.”
“[A]ccess to the scissors alone did not directly cause the harm. Necessary to the plaintiff’s negligence claim is that the Hospital failed to restrain or seclude decedent in the emergency room, which is what led to him getting shot and killed. The claim necessarily relies on the medical standard of care for a hospital treating a mentally ill patient at risk of self-harm and taken into custody for involuntary examination under the Baker Act … the acts that caused injury are the Hospital’s failure to restrain or properly supervise decedent just after he was admitted and taken into custody as a danger to himself under the Baker Act. The Hospital is a medical provider and was acting in that capacity while actively treating decedent for his mental illness and physical injuries. For these reasons, we grant the petition for writ of certiorari. The order denying the Hospital’s motion to dismiss is quashed.”
Source Indian River Memorial Hospital, Inc. v. Anderson, No. 4D2024-2577.
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