Opinion ID: 2275966
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Relationship Between Kelly and The Providence Center

Text: Our analysis necessarily focuses on the nature of the relationship between a voluntary outpatient and a community mental health center that treated the patient, and the degree of control, if any, that the facility may have exercised over the patient as a result of the relationship. A common thread running through many of the cases that address the liability of mental health providers for the violent actions of their patients is controlwhether the provider had the ability to control the conduct of the patient. Indeed, some courts have concluded that no duty can be imposed on a provider in an outpatient setting because of the lack of ability to control the patient. For example, in Hasenei v. United States, 541 F.Supp. 999 (D.Md. 1982), the court said that a special relationship must include the right or the ability to control the conduct of another, and in the absence of a relationship involving such control, the exception to the general rule, that there is no duty to control the conduct of a third person for the protection of others, should not be applicable. Id. at 1009. The court reasoned that the typical relationship existing between a psychiatrist and a voluntary outpatient would seem to lack sufficient elements of control necessary to bring such relationship within the rule of § 315. Hasenei, 541 F.Supp. at 1009; see also Nasser v. Parker, 249 Va. 172, 455 S.E.2d 502, 505-06 (1995). We need not and we do not say that an outpatient relationship never can give rise to an affirmative duty to control the patient's conduct. Although there is undoubtedly less ability to control an outpatient than in the situation of an inpatient, the relationship nevertheless may in some circumstances, conceivably give rise to a duty. [16] However, we cannot agree with plaintiff's argument that the relationship between a mental health provider and its patient, in and of itself, is sufficient to give rise to a duty to control the patient. The plaintiff argues that Kelly's long history of treatment resulted in a special relationship, and therefore, a duty to control Kelly by initiating certification proceedings. But, to impose a duty to control, there must be an opportunity to exercise such control. Based on the record before us, defendant possessed neither the legal authority nor the opportunity to exercise such control. Santana did not produce any evidence that would have supported an involuntary commitment of Kelly, nor have we been supplied with any medical records illustrating what the patient's condition was when the District Court last ordered him into counseling at The Providence Center, or what his condition was when he was last treated there, some four months before he attacked Ms. Santana. The plaintiff also failed to present any physicians' affidavits in opposition to defendant's motion for summary judgment. [17] In the absence of this material, we cannot conclude that defendant had the ability to control Kelly; thus, we do not believe that a special relationship existed that would trigger a corresponding duty to control him. We would be engaging in pure speculation were we to hold otherwise. 2