Court Opinion

ID: 9631249
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:32:53.31107+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:28:55.033624
License: Public Domain

ALEXANDER, J.,
with whom CALKINS, J., joins,
dissenting.
[¶ 17] I respectfully dissent. The Maine Legislature could never have intended that the Maine Health Security Act sweep so broadly as to cover wrongful acts committed against patients, former patients, or the public at large that involve neither medical negligence nor the provision of health care services. Here the Court construes the MHSA to shield a physician from liability for a vindictive act of retribution committed against a former patient through abuse of civil process, with an intent to inflict emotional distress by depriving the person of his liberty. The MHSA was never intended to extend this far.
[¶ 18] The case is before us on review of a motion to dismiss. The Court’s opinion correctly states the standard of review for a grant of a motion to dismiss. That standard requires that we examine the complaint “in the light most favorable to the plaintiff to determine whether it sets forth elements of a cause of action or alleges facts that would entitle the plaintiff to relief pursuant to some legal theory.” In re Wage Payment Litig., 2000 ME 162, ¶ 3, 759 A.2d 217, 220. Dismissal is warranted when and only when it appears “beyond a doubt” that the plaintiff is not entitled to relief under any set of facts that might be proved in support of the claim. Johanson v. Dunnington, 2001 ME 169, ¶ 5, 785 A.2d 1244, 1245-46. The facts alleged in the complaint and the causes of action asserted must be examined from this perspective, established by our prior precedent. See id. Dismissal can be affirmed only if the facts demonstrate, beyond a doubt, that plaintiff is not entitled to relief under some legal theory. Here, at least three causes of action that have nothing to do with medical negligence are presented by the facts.
[¶ 19] Let us look at those facts:
[¶ 20] Saunders is a resident of Bangor and a 1996 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maine. Dr. Tisher is a physician who was practicing at Acadia Hospital in Bangor. In November 1996, Saunders sought counseling from Dr. Tisher. At their third meeting, Saunders discharged Dr. Tisher and terminated the doctor-patient relationship. The termination of the relationship occurred when Saunders declined to take medications suggested by Dr. Tisher. Dr. Tisher, in response, threatened to have Saunders involuntarily committed, although Dr. Tisher admitted to Saunders that he would be “stretching” to do so because Saunders had no history of violence. After Saunders terminated the doctor-patient relationship with Dr. Tisher in November 1996, they had no further contact.
*836[¶21] Fifteen months after the doctor-patient relationship terminated and without any further observation of Saunders, Dr. Tisher signed an application pursuant to 34-B M.R.S. § 3863(1) (2005) to support an emergency, involuntary commitment of Saunders to a mental hospital. In this application, Dr. Tisher (1) falsely stated that Saunders, because of mental illness, posed a likelihood of serious harm to himself or others; (2) falsely claimed that he had considered “less restrictive settings and modalities” when no such alternatives had been considered; and (3) falsely asserted that suitable resources for Saunders’s care and treatment were unavailable in the community, when he had not pursued such resources before signing the commitment application. The complaint further alleges that Dr. Tisher “falsely completed” the involuntary commitment application to retaliate against Saunders for terminating Dr. Tisher’s services fifteen months previously.
[¶22] Based upon Dr. Tisher’s falsified application for emergency, involuntary commitment, Saunders was arrested by the Bangor police and forcibly transported to and admitted to Acadia Hospital, where he was held involuntarily until his release. The complaint asserts that in addition to signing the involuntary commitment application, Dr. Tisher violated the law by approving Saunders’s commitment by telephone. Title 34-B M.R.S. § 3863(2)(A) (2005), requires that any physician supporting an involuntary commitment “has examined the person on the date of the certificate.”
[¶ 23] The MHSA protections and procedural requirements are limited to actions that arise from either the provision or failure to provide health care services. Thus, actions for professional negligence are defined as “any action for damages for injury or death against any health care provider, its agents or employees, or health care practitioner, his agents or employees, whether based upon tort or breach of contract or otherwise, arising out of the provision or failure to provide health care services.” 24 M.R.S. § 2502(6) (2005).
[¶ 24] The Maine Civil Rights Act authorizes a civil action against “any person” who “intentionally interferes or attempts to intentionally interfere by physical force or violence ... or by the threat of physical force or violence against a person ... with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by [state or federal constitutional or statutory law].” 5 M.R.S. § 4682(1-A) (2005). The Maine Civil Rights Act further provides that “a person has the right to engage in lawful activities without being subject to physical force or violence ... or the threat of physical force or violence ... motivated by reason of ... physical or mental disability ....” 5 M.R.S. § 4684-A (2005).
[¶ 25] Saunders’s complaint alleges that Dr. Tisher’s improper actions were made in his capacity as an applicant for Saunders’s involuntary commitment. An applicant for involuntary commitment may be “[a]ny health officer, law enforcement officer or other person,” 34-B M.R.S. § 3863(1), and is not required to be a health care provider. Saunders asserts that in violation of the Maine Civil Rights Act, Dr. Tisher’s intentional acts and false statements caused Saunders to be deprived of his liberty as a result of his arrest and involuntary commitment for twenty-one days.
[¶26] This record does not preclude Saunders’s Maine Civil Rights Act claim “beyond a doubt.” The allegations of intentional acts and false statements, leading to police action to deprive Saunders of his liberty, establish a claim under the Maine Civil Rights Act under the low threshold *837established by our motion to dismiss jurisprudence. The actions alleged to render Dr. Tisher liable under this claim do not arise from his status as a health care professional. Dr. Tisher’s vindictive, intentional act, meant to deprive Saunders of his liberty and settle an old grudge, was not medical negligence.
[¶27] Saunders’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress is subject to similar analysis. To prevail in an action for intentional infliction of emotional distress, a plaintiff must demonstrate that: (1)the defendant engaged in intentional or reckless conduct that inflicted serious emotional distress or would be substantially certain to result in serious emotional distress; (2) the defendant’s conduct was so extreme and outrageous as to exceed all possible bounds of decency and must be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable; and (3) the plaintiff suffered serious emotional distress as a result of the defendant’s conduct. Champagne v. Mid-Maine Med. Ctr., 1998 ME 87, ¶ 15, 711 A.2d 842, 847; Henriksen v. Cameron, 622 A.2d 1135, 1139 (Me.1993).
[¶ 28] Saunders’s complaint, taken most favorably to Saunders as our jurisprudence demands, makes out each of the three criteria for an intentional infliction of emotional distress cause of action. Unlike the conduct in Champagne, the conduct alleged here, if proven as alleged, is certainly conduct “so extreme and outrageous as to exceed all possible bounds of decency and must be regarded as atrocious, utterly intolerable in a civilized community.” 1998 ME 87, ¶ 15, 711 A.2d at 847 (quotation marks omitted). As with the claims generating the civil rights cause of action, the claims of intentional acts and false statements giving rise to an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim have no necessary relation to Dr. Tisher’s status as a health care provider. These claims against Dr. Tisher arise from the alleged violations of his duty of care as a member of the public, not violations of any duty arising from his separate status as a health care provider.
[¶29] Dr. Tisher’s improper use of the “blue paper” to initiate a civil, involuntary commitment proceeding also may be construed to be a wrongful use of civil process giving rise to a cause of action. In a wrongful use of civil process action, a plaintiff must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that:
(1) the defendant initiated, procured, or continued a civil proceeding without probable cause;
(2) with a primary purpose other than that of securing the proper adjudication of the claim upon which the proceedings were based; and
(3) the proceedings have been terminated in plaintiff’s favor.
See Pepperell Trust Co. v. Mountain Heir Fin. Corp., 1998 ME 46, ¶¶ 15-17, 708 A.2d 651, 656; Gray v. State, 624 A.2d 479, 483-84 (Me.1993). For these actions, “probable cause” or “reasonable grounds” for the action has been viewed as information sufficient to justify a person who is calm, and not governed by passion, prejudice, or lack of ordinary caution and care, in believing that there is a factual and legal basis for the action. See Price v. Patterson, 606 A.2d 783, 785-86 (Me.1992); Nyer v. Carter, 367 A.2d 1375, 1378 (Me.1977).
[¶ 30] Saunders asserts that Dr. Tisher initiated the blue paper commitment proceedings without probable cause for the action, that his primary purpose was something other than securing the commitment of Saunders for Saunders’s protection and, that by Saunders’s release, the proceedings have been terminated in his favor. Thus, the record does not exclude “beyond a doubt” a claim for wrongful use of civil proceedings.
*838[¶ 31] Dismissal of a complaint pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) is warranted only “when it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff is not entitled to relief under any set of facts” that might be proved in support of the claim. Johanson, 2001 ME 169, ¶ 5, 785 A.2d at 1246. Examined from this perspective, Saunders’s complaint, viewed most favorably to Saunders, asserts that he had no doctor-patient relationship with Dr. Tisher; Dr. Tisher had no contact with Saunders for fifteen months; Dr. Tisher made false statements when he initiated a civil commitment action, not to provide health care, but to punish Saunders for the earlier termination of his services; Dr. Tisher did not have a reasonable belief that Saunders’s involuntary commitment was required; and Dr. Tisher’s acts caused Saunders to be deprived of his liberty, resulting in extreme emotional injury. These facts do not establish “beyond a doubt” that Saunders could not prove a claim for violation of his civil rights, wrongful use of civil process, and/or intentional infliction of emotional distress by Dr. Tisher. Dr. Tisher violated duties that he holds as a member of the public outside of any “provision or failure to provide health care services” protected under the MHSA. See 24 M.R.S. § 2502(6). With the three-year statute of limitations under the MHSA inapplicable, Saunders’s claim is subject to the six-year statute of limitations pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 752 (2005). Under section 752, his action is timely. Accordingly, the dismissal of Saunders’s complaint should be vacated.