Tedrick v. Community Resource Center

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Illinois

Court: 5th District Appellate

Docket No: 5-06-0065 Rel

Case Date: 05/17/2007

Preview:NO. 5-06-0065
NOTICE Decision filed 05/17/07. The text of this decision may be changed or corrected prior to the filing of a Peti tion for Rehearing or th e

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT ________________________________________________________________________ BRENDA TEDRICK, Administrator of the Estate of Teresa Street, Deceased, and BRENDA TEDRICK and JAMES TEDRICK, Guardians of the Estates of Dalton Ryan Street and Dylan Bryce Street, Minors, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of ) Marion County. ) ) ) Plaintiffs-Appellants, ) ) v. ) No. 05-L-36 ) COMM UNITY RESOURCE CENTER, INC., ) d/b/a COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER, ) VANDALIA, ILLINOIS; DEENA BALLARD, ) LCSW; LYNETTE M. GARTKE, LCPC; ) GEORGIANNE B. BROUGHTON, LCPC; ) JAMES R. GOGGIN, M.D.; HEALTH ) MANAGEMENT LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, ) d/b/a DOCTORS HOSPITAL; VINE STREET ) CLINIC, LLC; FAREED TABATABAI, M.D., ) JUDY L. KEEVEN, M.D.; and SALLY ) PUTNAM, ) ) Defendants-Appellees ) ) (Physicians Group Associates, S.C., Daniel ) O'Brien, M.D., and St. Mary's Hospital, ) Centralia, Illinois, ) Honorable ) David L. Sauer, Respondents in Discovery-Appellees). ) Judge, presiding. ________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE DONOVAN delivered the opinion of the court: The plaintiffs filed a wrongful-death-and-survival action in the circuit court of Marion County on behalf of the estates of Teresa Street, deceased, and her children against several health care providers alleging that they breached their duties to warn and to protect Teresa Street from foreseeable violent acts of her husband, Richard Street. The circuit court found

disposition of the same.

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that the plaintiffs failed to allege a recognized duty of care owed by any named defendant to Teresa Street, and the court dismissed the action with prejudice. On appeal, the plaintiffs claim that the trial court erred in dismissing the action because the defendants owed duties to Teresa Street under voluntary-undertaking and transferred-negligence theories of liability. The plaintiffs also claimed that the trial court erred in denying them reimbursement for the time and expenses that they incurred in compelling a respondent in discovery to comply with the rules of discovery. I. Factual and Procedural Background On May 13, 2003, Richard Street was checked into Hillsboro Hospital. According to the patient history, Richard was having thoughts of killing himself and killing his wife, Teresa Street. An emergency screening assessment was conducted. The assessment revealed that Richard had been enduring paranoid delusions and "gustatory" hallucinations for the previous month or two. It also revealed that Richard had a history of depression and panic attacks and that he had attempted to stab himself two months prior to the admission. Following the assessment, Richard Street was transferred to Doctors Hospital in Springfield for purposes of evaluation and treatment. Sally Putnam, a social worker

employed by Doctors H ospital, obtained a psychiatric social history on Richard. She included information based on interviews with Richard Street, Teresa Street, and Richard's mother, Nileene Hancock. Teresa reported that her husband was losing "his grip on reality" and that he had been exhibiting strange behavior for about a month. Teresa also stated Richard thought that she was trying to drug him and their children, that she was having an affair, and that the guys at work were trying to kill him. Nileene Hancock reported that her son had expressed a plan to kill himself and Teresa. Richard acknowledged that he had suicidal thoughts and that he had recently placed a knife to his chest with thoughts of killing himself but changed his mind. Richard reported that he worried a lot about his wife cheating

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on him. Richard believed that Teresa was trying to poison him and his sons. He admitted that he had a homicidal plan. Richard Street was hospitalized at Doctors Hospital from M ay 13, 2003, to May 16, 2003. During the admission, Richard was evaluated and treated by Fareed Tabatabai, M.D., a psychiatrist with the Vine Street Clinic. Dr. Tabatabai discharged Richard Street from Doctors Hospital on M ay 16, 2003, with the diagnosis of "major depression with mild psychotic features". Richard was instructed to attend a follow-up appointment with the Community Resource Center (CRC) in Fayette County on May 20, 2003. CRC is an outpatient facility that treats individuals afflicted with depression or substance abuse issues. Lynette M. Gartke, a licensed clinical professional counselor (LCPC) at CRC, conducted an initial evaluation of Richard on May 20, 2003, and a comprehensive assessment on June 3, 2003. On June 6, 2003, at approximately 10 a.m., Richard Street arrived at CRC in a state of crisis. Deena Ballard, a licensed clinical social worker, performed a crisis-intervention assessment. During the assessment, Richard indicated that he wanted to voluntarily admit himself to a mental health hospital. He reported that he was going to kill his wife, Teresa. Richard's mother was present. She reported that her son had threatened to kill Teresa. Deena Ballard contacted St. Mary's Hospital in Centralia to arrange for a voluntary admission. Richard was deemed appropriate for admission pending a formal determination by the hospital. Sometime between 11:30 a.m. and noon, during the process of arranging for the admission, Richard changed his mind. He indicated that he no longer wanted to be hospitalized. He wanted to return home to his wife. Deena Ballard scheduled Richard for an appointment later that day with his family physician, James R. Goggin, M.D. Richard left CRC accompanied by his mother and a nephew. Meanwhile, Teresa Street was on her way to CRC. She arrived at the facility between

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noon and 12:15 p.m., and she consulted with Deena Ballard. Teresa expressed her concern about Richard's changing moods and behavior and his treatment needs. Deena Ballard provided Teresa with a crisis line telephone number, and Teresa agreed to call the crisis line or the police in an emergency. At about 3:45 p.m. on June 6, 2003, Richard Street arrived for his appointment with Dr. Goggin. Teresa Street and Nileene Hancock also attended the appointment. Dr. Goggin met with Richard and his mother. He met separately with Teresa. In his office record, Dr. Goggin noted Teresa's concern that Richard might hurt her because he believed she was having an affair. Dr. Goggin also noted that Richard had denied suicidal ideations at that time and that Richard had said that he did not intend to hurt Teresa. The record also indicates that Nileene Hancock agreed with her son's assessment of his mental state. Dr. Goggin noted that Richard displayed symptoms of paranoia. He prescribed Xanax and Zyprexa. Dr. Goggin advised Richard that he could not treat Richard for this condition. Dr. Goggin told Richard that he should have psychiatric care. On June 9, 2003, Richard Street was found lying over the lifeless body of Teresa Street. Teresa, the 34-year-old mother of three, had been strangled. Richard Street was found to have overdosed on medication. He survived the episode but required below-theknee amputation of both legs because of the way his body was positioned during the period following his ingestion of the medication. In December 2005, Richard Street entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in the death of his wife, and he was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The plaintiffs filed a wrongful-death action on behalf of the estates of Teresa Street and her children, against Richard Street's health care providers, alleging theories of direct negligence and transferred negligence. In the third amended complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that in the period between May 13, 2003, and June 9, 2003, Richard Street came under the

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care of the defendants for psychiatric care, that Richard Street informed the defendants that he thought his wife was committing adultery and trying to poison him and their sons, that Richard Street told the defendants that he had thoughts of killing himself and his wife, that it was reasonably foreseeable that Richard Street would injure and/or kill Teresa Street, and that the defendants knew or should have known that Richard Street posed a specific threat of harm to Teresa Street. In support of the voluntary-undertaking theory, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants undertook to evaluate, supervise, treat, and control Richard Street for the protection of Teresa Street and that Teresa Street relied on the defendants to exercise reasonable care in the performance of their undertakings by conducting appropriate evaluation, treatment, supervision, and control of Richard Street and by warning Teresa Street of Richard Street's threats of violence against her. As to the theory of transferred negligence, the plaintiffs alleged that Teresa Street and Richard Street had the type of special and intimate relationship that gives rise to the transfer of the defendants' duties of care to Teresa Street. The complaint further asserts that the breach of one or more of the stated duties proximately caused pain and suffering, and ultimately the death of Teresa Street. The defendants moved to dismiss the action under section 2-615 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-615 (West 2002)), on the ground that the allegations failed to show that the defendants owed a duty of care to Teresa Street. The defendants claimed that the complaint lacked factual allegations indicating the existence of a direct physicianpatient relationship between Teresa Street and the defendants, or a special relationship between Teresa Street and Richard Street. The trial court dismissed the action with prejudice on the ground that the third amended complaint in its entirety failed to allege a recognized duty owed by any named defendant to the decedent. In its docket entry, the trial court wrote that the nature of the

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special relationships that will establish transferred negligence has been narrowly defined in reported decisions in Illinois. The court found that the complaint did not allege the existence of a special relationship that has been recognized by existing Illinois law and that there was no other legal basis in Illinois law from which to find a duty owed by the medical care providers to a third party. II. Analysis of the Issues A motion to dismiss brought pursuant to section 2-615 attacks the legal sufficiency of the complaint. Chandler v. Illinois Central R.R. Co. , 207 Ill. 2d 331, 348, 798 N.E.2d 724, 733 (2003). It is properly granted only when it clearly appears that no set of facts could ever be proved under the pleadings that would entitle the plaintiff to recover damages. Chandler, 207 Ill. 2d at 349, 798 N.E.2d at 733. On review of an order dismissing an action for a failure to state a cause of action, all well-pleaded facts and reasonable inferences therefrom are taken as true, and the allegations of the complaint are to be liberally construed with a view towards substantial justice between the parties. Doe 1 v. North Central Behavioral Health Systems, Inc., 352 Ill. App. 3d 284, 286, 816 N.E.2d 4, 6 (2004). Whether the complaint states a valid cause of action is a question of law that is reviewed de novo . Chandler, 207 Ill. 2d at 349, 798 N.E.2d at 733. To adequately state a cause of action for negligence, the plaintiff must allege facts that establish the existence of a duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff, a breach of that duty, and an injury that was proximately caused by the breach. Pelham v. Griesheimer, 92 Ill. 2d 13, 18, 440 N.E.2d 96, 98 (1982). The existence of a duty depends on whether a plaintiff and a defendant stood in such a relationship to each other that the law imposed on the defendant an obligation of reasonable conduct for the benefit of the plaintiff. Pelham, 92 Ill. 2d at 18-19, 440 N.E.2d at 98. The existence of a duty is a question of law to be resolved by the court. Pelham, 92 Ill. 2d at 19, 440 N.E.2d at 98.

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The present action is predicated on the duties of the physicians and other health care providers to warn Teresa Street of the potential violent acts of Richard Street. In such an action, a plaintiff must establish the following elements relating to the alleged duty: (a) the patient made a specific threat of violence, (b) the threat was directed toward a specific and identifiable victim, and (c) there was a direct physician-patient relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff or a special relationship between the patient and the plaintiff. Doe 1 , 352 Ill. App. 3d at 290, 816 N.E.2d at 9; Reynolds v. National R.R. Passenger Corp. , 216 Ill. App. 3d 334, 338, 576 N.E.2d 1041, 1043 (1991). That the third amended complaint sets out sufficient factual allegations to indicate that Richard Street made specific threats of violence toward his wife within days of her murder is not seriously challenged. At issue is whether the complaint contains sufficient factual allegations to indicate that Teresa Street falls within the class of persons to whom a duty of care was owed by the health care providers who evaluated and treated Richard Street. The plaintiffs have alleged that the defendants owed a duty to warn and to protect Teresa Street against potential violent acts of her husband pursuant to sections 315 and 324A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (Restatement (Second) of Torts

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