Does a hospital have a duty to protect a patient who commits suicide after being unconditionally discharged from a mental health facility?

Katona v. County of Los Angeles (1985) 172 Cal.App.3d 53, 218 Cal.Rptr. 19 does not support the granting of the summary judgment motion here. In that case the decedent committed suicide six weeks after she had been discharged from a mental health facility. Her parents filed suit against the mental health facility and the gun dealer who sold their daughter the gun with which she took her life. The court found that while the hospital had a duty to protect decedent while she was in their care, "there is no justification for extending that duty beyond the patient's unconditional release." (Id. at p. 59, 218 Cal.Rptr. 19.) Although the court found no duty in Katona, it was not because the decedent was an outpatient, but rather because she had been unconditionally discharged and was not engaged in a psychotherapist-patient relationship at all.

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