Court denies appeal by Parkland parents who say mental health firm was negligent

[alp227]

Source: Miami Herald

Ruling against the parents of a student killed in the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a state appeals court Wednesday said a mental health facility that provided services to accused shooter Nikolas Cruz cannot be held liable.

A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court decision to dismiss allegations against Henderson Behavioral Health Inc., which periodically provided mental health services to Cruz from 2009 to 2016.

Andrew Pollack and Shara Kaplan, the parents of slain student Meadow Pollack, alleged that the mental health facility was negligent for failing to prevent Cruz from being mainstreamed into the public school system and for failing to warn about dangers posed by Cruz, a former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student.

But the appeals court said the “theories of liability are undermined by Florida law establishing that a criminal attack on third parties by an outpatient mental health patient is not within the foreseeable zone of risk created by the mental health provider. Florida law does not recognize a duty of mental health providers to warn third parties that a patient may be dangerous.”

Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article243027576.html

[Jake Stern]

1. Catch-22

If they Had gone and warned people about his mental conditions they faced fines and lawsuits for HIPAA violations but if they don't then they face lawsuits for negligence.

[KWR65]

2. If someone in Florida is a danger to themselves or others then they can be committed to a hospital.

They can also warn any one that is a target of the patient. HIPAA does not forbid any such action. However, in this case Cruz never told them, 'I'm going to shoot people at school tomorrow!' So they have no liability.