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| Suicide Cases |
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Suicide is always a tragedy.
It is even more tragic when suicide results from the negligence
of a mental health professional. Mental health patients
and their families deserve proper mental health treatment.
When they fail to receive this, they need attorneys who
have the knowledge and experience necessary to pursue
their unique problems and concerns. By serving them, we
believe that we serve all those who – now or in
the future – require mental health treatment.
Suicide also continues to be a leading cause of death
within jails, prisons and juvenile facilities throughout
the country. Landmark studies from the National Center
on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA) have found that
the suicide rate in county jails is several times greater
than that of the general population, while the suicide
rate in prisons is approximately one and a half times
greater than in the community.
Twenty years ago it was unusual for a lawsuit to be filed
following a suicide, but that’s changing. Mental
health practitioners, hospitals, treatment centers and
custodial facilities across the United States, and their
insurance carriers, often incur large monetary judgments
when it is found that appropriate assessments were not
made, necessary policies were non-existent or substandard
and staff were inadequately trained to identify and deal
properly with an obvious suicide risk.
Mental health practitioners, correctional administrators
and their staff can no longer invoke the defense that
-- "If someone really wants to kill themselves there's
generally nothing you can do about it" -- unless
the practitioner, agency or custodial facility has implemented
a sound suicide assessment, evaluation and risk prevention
policy that always includes the critical component of
staff training. The risk of suicide can not be minimized
without a pro-active approach to the problem.
At Juneau, Boll & Ward, PLLC our attorneys
are experienced in this unique area of the law. We represent
families who have suffered the loss of a loved one as
a consequence of preventable suicide. We understand the
physical, psychological and emotional underpinnings of
suicide, we know how to place responsibility where it
belongs, and our lawyers have effectively litigated such
cases in state and federal courts throughout the United
States. |
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