The National Deaf Academy, LLC v. Townes

Summary

The Florida Supreme Court held that a negligence claim sounds in medical malpractice only when the allegedly negligent act is directly related to medical care or services requiring professional judgment or skill. Applying that standard, the Court approved the Fifth District’s determination that injuries arising from an attempted physical restraint at the National Deaf Academy involved ordinary negligence, and disapproved the First District’s broader analysis in Shands Teaching Hospital & Clinics, Inc. v. Estate of Lawson.

Holdings

1. A claim sounds in medical malpractice only when the act from which the claim arises is directly related to medical care or services that require the use of professional judgment or skill.
2. Townes's claim arising from the attempted TACT restraint alleged ordinary negligence, not medical malpractice, and therefore was not barred by chapter 766 presuit requirements or the two-year medical-malpractice statute of limitations.
3. A claim arising from a hospital employee leaving keys and a badge accessible to a patient does not sound in medical malpractice because the claim arises from a negligent security or custodial act, not an act directly related to medical care or services requiring professional judgment or skill.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a negligence claim arising from the administration of a TACT physical restraint at a residential treatment facility is a medical-malpractice claim subject to chapter 766 presuit requirements and the medical-malpractice statute of limitations.
2. Whether a negligence claim arising from a psychiatric hospital employee leaving keys and an identification badge accessible to a patient sounds in medical malpractice.

Disposition

approved