Article

Doctrine of Sovereign Immunity Applied to Negligence Claims Against State Mental Health Employees

The Doctrine Of Sovereign Immunity Did Not Bar Plaintiff's Claim For Negligence Against State Employed Mental Health Professionals.
The Illinois Supreme Court recently held that a malpractice claim against a psychiatrist and psychologist employed by a State of Illinois psychiatric hospital was not barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity because the duty alleged to have been breached by the defendants was a duty imposed upon them independently of their state employment. Jinkins v. Lee, No. 95876, 2004 Ill. LEXIS 366, __ Ill.2d. __, __ N.E.2d __, 2004 WL 539978 (Mar. 18, 2004).

Earlean Jinkins, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of George Jinkins, deceased, filed suit against defendants, Dr. Choog Lee and Paulette Medlin, employees of the John Madden Mental Health Center, after her husband was released from the Center and shortly thereafter committed suicide. Plaintiff alleged that defendants failed to properly diagnose and treat her husband's mental illness, such that he should have been subject to involuntary commitment. Plaintiff claimed that this failure led to her husband's release from the Center and his subsequent suicide. Defendants moved for summary judgment arguing that sovereign immunity barred the claim because at the time of defendants' treatment of plaintiff's decedent they were state employees. The trial court granted defendants' summary judgment motion but the appellate court reversed. The Supreme Court then granted defendants' petition for leave to appeal.

The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the doctrine of sovereign immunity barred plaintiff's claim for negligence against state employed mental health professionals. The court held that sovereign immunity did not bar plaintiff's claim against defendants because defendants' duty to plaintiff's decedent arose from their status as mental health professionals and was independent of their state employment.