Opinion ID: 1591402
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Duties Owed to Hall

Text: ¶ 10. Wood Hiatt, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist, [7] testified that East Mississippi had the duty to protect patients from the consequences of their own dangerous behavior, to lock doors to rooms where a patient could be present without supervision, and to put safety screens on windows in rooms where a patient could be present without supervision. Dr. Hiatt also testified that East Mississippi staff was required to know the location of each patient and the actions in which each patient was engaged. Hall had attempted suicide in March of 2001, and she should have been under special observation. The May 15, 2001, progress notes concerning Hall state that Hall was a danger to herself and others. Hall became argumentative with a staff member on May 31 and was placed on the third-floor ward, which was a locked unit. ¶ 11. Dr. Hiatt further testified that East Mississippi breached the above-referenced duties by allowing third-floor ward patients to freely enter and leave an unlocked room without supervision, to have access to the linen closet, and to be without supervision long enough to take sheets out of the linen closet, make a rope out of the sheets, pry the window open in the conference room, take off their pajamas and put on regular clothes, attach the rope to a table in the conference room, and climb out the window. What astounds the Court is that the three women were coming in and out of the supposedly off-limits conference room which was right next to the nurse's station. Also, each patient was to be checked every thirty minutes. Whoever staffed the nurse's station or monitored the patients during these events should have become suspicious about the women's activities. Someone should have noticed that the three women had pajamas on and then they changed into regular clothes. Hall testified that most of the nurse's aides were watching television. ¶ 12. We find, as the circuit court did, based on Dr. Hiatt's testimony, East Mississippi breached the duties of care owed to Hall.