Medical Malpractice Lawsuit about Patient Suicide Being Decided by the Florida Supreme Court

In 2008, a Florida woman named Jacqueline Granicz, who was suffering from depression, called her doctor’s office and reported that she felt like she was under a great deal of mental strain;, she was crying easily and experiencing stomach pain and other problems. When Dr. Chirillo learned about Ms. Granicz’s call from his assistant, he decided to change her medication and then he referred her to a gastroenterologist for her gastrointestinal issues.

Dr. Chirillo had prescribed Effexor, an anti-depressant, which Mrs. Granicz had stopped taking prior to her call to the doctor’s office. After hearing Mrs. Granicz’s complaints, and without counseling her about the fact that the drug might take weeks to show any therapeutic effects and might produce suicidal ideations, he prescribed Lexapro, a different type of anti-depressant. According to the lawsuit, Mrs. Granicz overdosed on Lexapro before hanging herself the following day.

Ms. Granicz’s husband, Robert, brought a lawsuit against Dr. Chirillo, whom he alleges in the lawsuit failed to fulfill a legal standard of care in treating his wife. Dr. Chirillo’s attorneys claimed that the doctor could not have foreseen the patient’s suicide and therefore should not be held responsible for her death.

Legal requirements for medical malpractice

In order to prove medical malpractice, the plaintiff must prove that the medical professional made an error that caused harm to the patient. The error must violate the accepted standard of care that other medical professionals would apply to a patient of similar age and under the same circumstances. The first step is proving that the medical professional breached the standard of care.

Once the medical error is identified, then injury caused by the error must be proven. If a doctor prescribed the wrong medication, for example, or operated on the wrong side of the body, or was under the influence of drugs or alcohol while working with patients, and that doctor caused harm to the patient and the plaintiff can prove causation, then they may have a medical malpractice claim.

Medical malpractice lawsuits often require the witness testimony of a medical expert who can investigate the case and demonstrate how the physician’s mistake caused the injury. The expert witness will testify as to the acceptable standard of care that pertains to the case.

A medical malpractice lawsuit that will test Florida law

In the case, Joseph Chirillo Jr., M.D., et al. v. Robert Granicz, etc., et al., SC14-898, the plaintiff claims that the doctor failed to treat the patient according to the standard of care, and the defendant claims that there is no way that the doctor could have predicted that the patient might commit suicide.

Initially, a circuit court judge ruled in the doctor’s favor, but the 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuit against the doctor could move forward overturning the circuit court’s ruling and allowing the case to go before the Florida Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case on September 2, 2015. It could take months for the court to make a final ruling in this case.