Mercer v. HCA Health Services of Tennessee, Inc.

OPINION

BEN H. CANTRELL, P.J., M.S.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which PATRICIA J. COTTRELL, J. and J.S. DANIEL, Sp. J., joined.

A widow claimed that her husband’s suicide was caused by the negligence of the defendant hospital and the defendant psychiatrist in releasing him prematurely from involuntary commitment. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants, finding that the hospital was obligated to release the patient when ordered to do so by the psychiatrist, and that the psychiatrist was entitled to absolute immunity for actions undertaken under the involuntary…