Case information

Torts — Negligence — Duty of care — Physicians and surgeons —Non-patient third parties — Patient violent with parents prior to hospital admission — Patient released from hospital by psychiatrist on duty — Patient warned about assaultive behaviour at regular psychiatrist’s clinic a month after discharge — Patient murdered father two months after discharge — Whether appellate court erred by ordering full trial to determine whether treating psychiatrists owed private law duty of care to patient’s parents as non-patient third parties — Whether duty of care to patient and alleged duty of care to patient’s parents — Whether refusal to recognize duty to non-patient third parties should be categorical — Whether claim should have been struck at pleadings stage.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Bradley McKee, 27 years old, had a long history of serious addiction and mental health issues. Dr. Lorberg, a psychiatrist at Centre North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene and the Ontario Addiction Treatment Centre (“OATC”) in Barrie, had been Bradley’s primary treating psychiatrist since August 2016. Dr. Shahid was a psychiatrist at the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health.

Bradley had been admitted to psychiatric facilities many times from 2016 onwards. He was on house arrest on, inter alia, a charge of assaulting his parents, with his parents as his legal sureties. In November 2018, he threatened to kill his parents and himself. Later that month, he was referred by the initial hospital to Waypoint for a psychiatric assessment with a recommendation that he be admitted for long-term care. He was discharged a day later. On December 1, 2018, he overdosed on medications prescribed by Dr. Lorberg and was again admitted to the initial hospital. On December 12, he was again transferred to Waypoint with a recommendation of a prolonged admission for medication review and psychiatric observation. A letter from his parents detailing his deteriorating mental health and the failure of other treatment options, and pleading for long-term care, was included in the package sent to Waypoint. That day, Dr. Shahid, Waypoint’s attending psychiatrist, discharged Bradley. In January 25, 2019, Bradley was given a letter expressing concerns about assaultive behaviour at attending Dr. Lorberg’s clinic. On February 11, 2019, Bradley experienced psychosis at his parents’ home. He stabbed his father in the neck with a knife, killing him, and stabbed himself. He was later found guilty of first-degree murder, forcible confinement and uttering death threats in relation to his father’s death.

Ms McKee brought an action alleging that Dr. Shahid and Dr. Lorberg were negligent in their treatment of Bradley and in failing to warn them that Bradley posed a danger to them, and that they had committed a series of acts and omissions. The motion judge struck the negligence claim without leave to amend because a duty of care to Bradley’s parents would conflict with the duty of care owed to Bradley. He also struck failure to warn, with leave to amend. Ms. McKee’s appeal of the former order was allowed.