Bradley Center, Inc. v. Wessner

Carley, Judge.

The instant wrongful death action raises an issue of apparent first impression in this state — whether appellant, a private mental health hospital, may be held civilly liable for the murder of appellees’ mother by appellees’ father, a patient in appellant’s facility.

The relevant facts are as follows: Appellant admits patients only on a “voluntary” basis. In other words, patients of appellant’s private facility “have to sign themselves in.” Appellees’ father, Matthew Wessner, and mother, Linda Wessner, had been experiencing marital problems for some time, the apparent primary…