Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman recently secured a $5.7 million verdict in a wrongful death case involving the negligent discharge of a patient who was experiencing an acute mental health crisis. The lawsuit was brought by the surviving family of a woman who died by suicide just days after being evaluated and released from a Kansas emergency department.
The case was tried by Partners Scott Nutter and Daniel Singer, who represented the woman’s surviving spouse and family in a medical negligence and wrongful death lawsuit against the providers responsible for her care. The jury’s verdict followed years of hard-fought litigation and reflected the seriousness of the failures that occurred during a critical window of mental health crisis.
About the Case
In April 2021, the decedent – a 49-year-old mother, wife, and accomplished marketing executive – was brought to the emergency department at Advent Shawnee Mission Medical Center. She had no significant prior history of mental illness but had suffered a stroke in November 2020. While she recovered well physically, the aftermath of the stroke left her struggling with anxiety, insomnia, and the emotional toll of no longer being able to meet the high expectations she had long set for herself.
In the days leading up to her hospital visit, the decedent exhibited alarming behavior that her husband believed were suicide attempts. On the day of the visit, he shared these incidents in detail with the care team and pleaded for her to be admitted. She was first seen by a nurse practitioner, who ordered a behavioral health consult from a licensed professional counselor. Despite the gravity of the circumstances and her husband’s expressed concerns, the patient was discharged that same day.
The lawsuit focused on the failure of both providers to conduct a competent suicide risk assessment. While the LPC testified that she spent 2–3 hours performing an in-depth evaluation, our legal team introduced badge access logs and medical record data proving the evaluation lasted no more than 29 minutes. According to jurors, this discrepancy was central to their verdict.
Evidence presented at trial also showed that had the patient been admitted, she would have survived and likely regained her pre-stroke cognitive and emotional baseline.
After 4.5 hours of deliberation, the jury awarded $5.7 million, including $4.2 million for economic loss, $1 million for noneconomic damages to the family, and $500,000 for the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering. Fault was apportioned 88% to the LPC and 12% to the NP. The best and final pre-suit offer from the defense was $1 million.
Our team at Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman is honored to have helped this family achieve justice in a case involving the tragic consequences of inadequate suicide risk assessment, and to have held the providers accountable for their role in a preventable loss.