Maltais v. PeaceHealth

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Maltais v. PeaceHealth. Read the opinion of the Court — 326 Or. App. 318
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided June 14, 2023·No. A174706·Published

Opinion

318 June 14, 2023 No. 294

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

Valerie MALTAIS and David Richardson, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PEACEHEALTH, a Washington nonprofit corporation, dba PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, and Sarah L. Coleman, MD, Defendants-Respondents. Lane County Circuit Court 19CV27100; A174706

R. Curtis Conover, Judge. Argued and submitted June 2, 2022. Gregory Kafoury argued the cause for appellants. Also on the briefs was Kafoury & McDougal. Ruth A. Casby argued the cause for respondent PeaceHealth Corp - Sacred Heart Medical Center. Also on the brief were Janet M. Schroer and Hart Wagner LLP. Hillary A. Taylor argued the cause and filed the brief for respondent Sarah L. Coleman, MD. Before Ortega, Presiding Judge, and Powers, Judge, and Hellman, Judge. ORTEGA, P. J. Reversed and remanded. Cite as 326 Or App 318 (2023) 319 320 Maltais v. PeaceHealth

ORTEGA, P. J. Plaintiffs Valerie Maltais and David Richardson, her husband, appeal a judgment dismissing their claims for negligence against defendants PeaceHealth and Sarah L. Coleman, MD. Defendants were medical service provid- ers for Maltais’s adult son, N. H., who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and severe intellectual disabilities. In her claims, Maltais alleges that she suffered a physical injury and noneconomic damages as a result of defendants’ negli- gent handling of N. H.’s deteriorating psychiatric condition, leading to a psychotic episode during which N. H. stabbed Maltais, puncturing her lung. Richardson alleges that he suffered noneconomic damages for loss of spousal consor- tium and emotional distress as a result of witnessing the attack. On appeal, plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in granting judgment on the pleadings for failure to state a claim under former ORCP 21 A(8) (2018), renum- bered as ORCP 21 A(a)(h) (2022), on the basis that defen- dants owed no duty to the nonpatient plaintiffs. We conclude that, if proven, the facts alleged in the complaint support a reasonable inference that defendants owed a duty of care that extended to Maltais. As such, we do not reach plain- tiffs’ alternative argument that the court erred in failing to give plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s dismissal of the complaint with prejudice and remand for further proceedings.1 I. BACKGROUND In reviewing a judgment dismissing a complaint, we accept as true the facts alleged in the complaint and draw all reasonable inferences from those allegations in favor of plaintiffs. Tomlinson v. Metropolitan Pediatrics, LLC, 362 Or 431, 434, 412 P3d 133 (2018). Our task is to “determine whether upon the facts alleged * * * no reasonable factfinder could decide one or more elements of liability” in favor of plaintiffs. Fazzolari v. Portland School Dist. No. 1J, 303 Or 1, 17, 734 P2d 1326 (1987). The alleged facts are as follows.

1 We do not address Richardson’s claims because the parties and the court treated those claims as derivative of Maltais’s claims. Cite as 326 Or App 318 (2023) 321

Maltais is the biological mother of N. H., an adult who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and severe intel- lectual disabilities. N. H. lived in the family home with Maltais and Richardson. He was “profoundly disabled” by his conditions and Maltais was his primary caregiver. She managed his medical care and accompanied him to his med- ical visits, including visits with his psychiatrist and other medical providers at PeaceHealth, for many years. She was responsible for communicating necessary medical infor- mation to providers and was authorized to receive medical information concerning N. H. N. H.’s psychiatric condition deteriorated in January 2018. He began to exhibit severe and uncharacteristic symp- toms, including hearing voices. He feared that he was losing control of himself and that he would harm himself and his family; specifically, he felt driven to stab his family members with a knife. Concerned that N. H. had become dangerous, Maltais took him to PeaceHealth’s Emergency Department (ED) on January 28, 2018. Hospital staff interviewed N. H. and released him. The following day, January 29, Maltais took N. H. to his regular psychiatrist at PeaceHealth, Carolyn Hartman, MD. Maltais explained the symptoms that N. H. was expe- riencing, and told Hartman about their visit to the ED. Hartman evaluated N. H.’s condition and noted in his chart, “Due to active psychosis and recent threats, dangerousness is clear.” On January 30, Hartman communicated to Maltais that she would inform the ED that N. H. needed to be admit- ted because he was a danger to himself and others. Hartman then called an intake worker and a crisis worker at the ED and reported that N. H. was her patient, that he was coming to the ED, and that he should be admitted. Next, Hartman spoke to an ED doctor and explained that N. H. wanted to be admitted and that admission was appropriate because he was dangerous to himself and others. The ED staff mem- bers agreed that they would admit N. H. when he arrived. Later that day, Maltais again took N. H. to the ED. However, there had been a shift change since Hartman’s calls. The ED staff, including defendant Coleman, did not 322 Maltais v. PeaceHealth

admit N. H. and, that same day and in Richardson’s pres- ence, N. H. stabbed Maltais with a knife, puncturing her lung. Plaintiffs allege that defendants PeaceHealth and Coleman were negligent: “(a) In failing to restrain, admit, or secure [N. H.], when they knew or had reason to know that he was men- tally ill and a danger to himself or others; “(b) In failing to convey the decision to admit [N. H.] to a responsible medical staff at the change of shift; “(c) In failing to adequately document the decision to admit [N. H.]; “(d) In failing to actively review available medical documentation, including * * * Hartman’s records, prior to declining to admit [N. H.]; “(e) In failing to secure available information regard- ing [N. H.]’s mental status and risk from * * * Maltais when she was present and available to be interviewed; “(f) In failing to devise an adequate system for con- veying recently-received medical information from practi- tioners during one shift to practitioners in the next shift; “(g) In refusing to allow * * * Maltais to be present while her son was interviewed.” Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint, argu- ing that they did not cause Maltais’s injuries and that the lack of a physician-patient or other special relationship between the parties was fatal to plaintiffs’ claims. Plaintiffs maintained that the claims were cognizable under a theory that defendants’ conduct unreasonably created a foreseeable risk of physical harm to others and that they were therefore liable for the resulting injuries. Defendants responded that Tomlinson controls the analysis for third-party medical neg- ligence claims such that plaintiffs must have alleged inde- pendent interests that defendants were obligated to protect to allege that a duty runs from defendants to plaintiffs. The trial court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the com- plaint with leave to replead facts that would demonstrate that defendant owed a duty to plaintiffs. Cite as 326 Or App 318 (2023) 323

Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint, add- ing a lengthy paragraph detailing the relationship between Maltais, N. H., and his medical providers.2 It describes her history of participating in his medical and psychiat- ric appointments at PeaceHealth and her role in commu- nicating medical information to providers about his care. Plaintiffs alleged that Maltais performed that role because N. H.’s disabilities made him dependent on her.

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