Saunders v. Tisher

• Decision Date: 02 August 2006
• Parties: Kristopher T. SAUNDERS v. Paul TISHER.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 830

902 A.2d 830

2006 ME 94

Kristopher T. SAUNDERS v. Paul TISHER.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: January 23, 2006.

Decided: August 2, 2006.

David G. Webbert, Esq. (orally), Johnson & Webbert, Augusta, for the appellant.

George C. Schelling, Esq. (orally), Aaron Fethke, Esq., Gross, Minsky & Mogul, P.A., Bangor, for the appellee.

Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and CLIFFORD, DANA, ALEXANDER, CALKINS, LEVY, and SILVER, JJ.

Majority: SAUFLEY, C.J., and CLIFFORD, DANA, LEVY, and SILVER, JJ.

Dissenting: ALEXANDER and CALKINS, JJ.

CLIFFORD, J.

[¶ 1] Kristopher T. Saunders appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court (Penobscot County, Hjelm, J.) dismissing his complaint pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Saunders's claim is against Dr. Paul Tisher, a licensed practicing psychiatrist. Saunders asserts that the Superior Court erred in determining that his claims against Dr. Tisher are governed by the Maine Health Security Act (MHSA), 24 M.R.S. §§ 2501-2987 (2005), and thus that those claims are barred by the MHSA's three-year statute of limitations contained in 24 M.R.S. § 2902. We are not persuaded by Saunders's assertions, and we affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] Saunders's complaint alleges the following facts. In November of 1996, Saunders began counseling with Bangor psychiatrist Paul Tisher. He and Dr. Tisher completed three sessions that month. During the third session, however, Saunders declined to take the medications recommended by Dr. Tisher and terminated their doctor-patient relationship. In response, Dr. Tisher threatened to have Saunders involuntarily committed even though Saunders had no history of violence. After Saunders terminated the doctor-patient relationship with Dr. Tisher in November of 1996, they had no further contact.

[¶ 3] On February 4, 1998, Dr. Tisher signed an application pursuant to 34-B M.R.S. § 3863(1) (2005) to support Saunders's emergency, involuntary commitment to a mental hospital. Saunders's complaint alleges that in the application, Dr. Tisher falsely verified that because of his mental illness, Saunders posed a likelihood of serious harm to himself or others. See 34-B M.R.S. § 3863(1)(A). The complaint further alleges that Dr. Tisher "falsely completed" the involuntary commitment application to retaliate against Saunders for terminating Dr. Tisher's services fourteen months earlier.

[¶ 4] Saunders's complaint further alleges that based on Dr. Tisher's application for emergency, involuntary commitment, Saunders was arrested by the Bangor police and forcibly transported and admitted to Acadia Hospital, where he was held involuntarily until his release twenty-one days later. The complaint asserts that in addition to signing the involuntary commitment application, Dr. Tisher approved Saunders's commitment by telephone, and that, in doing so, he violated applicable legal requirements.

[¶ 5] In February of 2004, Saunders filed his initial complaint against Dr. Tisher arising from the February 4, 1998, commitment, and later, in April of 2004, filed an amended complaint. Saunders's complaint, as amended, asserts three claims: (1) violation of the Maine Civil Rights Act, 5 M.R.S. §§ 4681-4685 (2005), and the Federal Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (2003);¹ (2) intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress; and (3) negligent infliction of emotional distress.

[¶ 6] Dr. Tisher successfully moved for dismissal of Saunders's complaint pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), contending that all of the claims asserted are covered by the MHSA and that they are therefore barred for having been filed beyond the MHSA's three-year statute of limitations. See 24 M.R.S. § 2902. Saunders then filed this appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

[¶ 7] The MHSA has a three-year statute of limitations. 24 M.R.S. § 2902. If Saunders's claims fall within the ambit of the MHSA, Saunders would have been required to file his complaint no later than February 2001, three years after his commitment to and discharge from Acadia Hospital. The complaint was not filed until February of 2004, well beyond the MHSA's limitations period.

[¶ 8] Saunders contends, however, that the Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal is improper because his complaint is not governed by the provisions of the MHSA. On a motion to dismiss, facts are not adjudicated, but rather there is an evaluation of the allegations in the complaint in relation to any cause of action that may reasonably be inferred from the complaint. Accordingly, upon review of a judgment granting a motion to dismiss pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), we consider the facts stated in the complaint as if they were admitted. Libner v. Me. County Comm'rs' Ass'n, 2004 ME 39, ¶ 7, 845 A.2d 570, 572; Napieralski v. Unity Church of Greater Portland, 2002 ME 108, ¶ 4, 802 A.2d 391, 392. "[W]e examine the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff to determine whether it sets forth elements of a cause of action or alleges facts that would entitle the plaintiff to relief pursuant to some legal theory." In re Wage Payment Litig., 2000 ME 162, ¶ 3, 759 A.2d 217, 220. "Dismissal is warranted when it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff is not entitled to relief under any set of facts that he might prove in support of his claim." Johanson v. Dunnington, 2001 ME 169, ¶ 5, 785 A.2d 1244, 1246.

[¶ 9] Saunders styles his complaint as a claim for violation of his civil rights for the improper use of the involuntary commitment process by Dr. Tisher, and contends that the claim is not subject to the limitations period within the MHSA. What Saunders describes in his complaint, however, are not actions taken by citizen Tisher, but rather the alleged misuse by Dr. Tisher of his position as a physician, a psychiatrist, to have Saunders involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for treatment that Saunders asserts was not in fact needed. As the Superior Court correctly observed, all of the activities allegedly performed by Dr. Tisher and described in the complaint "occurred in a medical setting" and "necessarily implicate [Dr. Tisher's] capacity as a health care provider or health care practitioner." Those actions fall within the ambit of the very broadly worded and all-encompassing MHSA. Because it is clear from the face of the complaint that Saunders failed to bring his action within the three-year limitations period provided in 24 M.R.S. § 2902, which governs all actions subject to the MHSA, the Superior Court properly dismissed his complaint.

[¶ 10] In his complaint, Saunders alleges that Dr. Tisher, who was once Saunders's treating psychiatrist, improperly signed a formal application for emergency, involuntary admission of Saunders to Acadia Hospital, a mental hospital, asserting that Saunders posed a likelihood of serious harm to himself or others. Saunders also alleges that in the application, Dr. Tisher verified that he had considered less restrictive settings and modalities, and asserted "that suitable resources for care and treatment are unavailable in the community." Such verification and assertions are of a kind made by a physician in determining what is the most appropriate mental health treatment for an individual. They are not the statements of a lay person not acting in the capacity of a health care practitioner. The complaint further alleges that Dr. Tisher also approved the admission of Saunders to the hospital by telephone. Such approval by Dr. Tisher would have to be given in his capacity as a physician, and indeed, Saunders alleges a violation of 34-B M.R.S. § 3863, which, in the part most relevant to the allegations, applies only to health care professionals. See 34-B M.R.S. § 3863(2) (2005).

[¶ 11] These actions by Dr. Tisher, although alleged to be improper and badly motivated, are nevertheless actions taken in connection with the provision of health care. Health care is broadly defined as:

preventative, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance or palliative care, services, treatment, procedures or counseling . . . that affects an individual's physical, mental or behavioral condition, including individual cells or their components or genetic information, or the structure or function of the human body or any part of the human body. Health care includes prescribing, dispensing or furnishing to an individual drugs, biologicals, medical devices or health care equipment and supplies . . . .

22 M.R.S. § 1711-C(1)(C) (2005).

[¶ 12] The language of the MHSA regarding the scope of its applicability is very broad. It is made to apply to all "action[s] for professional negligence," which are defined as "any action[s] for damages for injury or death against any health care provider, its agents or employees, or health care practitioner, his agents or employees, whether based upon tort or breach of contract or otherwise, arising out of the provision or failure to provide health care services." 24 M.R.S. § 2502(6) (emphasis added). We have already interpreted the MHSA to apply to all actions for professional negligence against a health care provider or practitioner. See Butler v. Killoran, 1998 ME 147, ¶ 6, 714 A.2d 129, 131-32.

[¶ 13] Professional negligence within the meaning of the MHSA is also defined very broadly. For the MHSA to apply to a claim against a health care provider or practitioner, the claim need not be one of negligence. Musk v. Nelson, 647 A.2d 1198, 1201 (Me.1994). The "or otherwise" language of section 2502(6) reflects a legislative intent that the MHSA "occupy the field with regard to actions against health care providers." Id.; see also Dutil v. Burns, 674 A.2d 910, 911 (Me.1996) (holding that claims for breach of warranty and strict liability are actions for professional negligence within the meaning of the MHSA). We have stated that the "procedural requirements and limitations period [of the MHSA are] applicable in a wide variety of contexts." Bu...