Posted on Tue, Aug. 15, 2006

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S.C. SUPREME COURT

Justices rule against state in lawsuit

Ruling expands legal obligation to ensure suitable patient care

By RODDIE A. BURRIS

rburris@thestate.com

The state cannot cast off its duty to provide reasonable care to patients even in cases where work is contracted out to private vendors, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The decision was a reversal of lower court rulings. It came after a 10-year battle in a case brought by Lexington County resident Brenda Bryant on behalf of her daughter.

The court’s extension of the state’s responsibility could affect suits in a range of areas beyond the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, which Bryant sued.

Bryant alleges that, as a 21-year-old with mental retardation, disabilities and special needs, her daughter, “Madison,” was raped by one or more men after she left her Babcock Center home with them in 1995.

The state claimed it had no duty of care to Madison because she voluntarily admitted herself to state care and Babcock is a contractual service provider.

The state also alleged the sexual incident involving Madison was her fault — the result of voluntary and intentional acts — and that the case was outside a statute of limitations.

Because the court found a duty of care exists on the part of the state, it held the agency could be found negligent in carrying out that duty.

A lower court is set to handle that question. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the circuit court for a decision.

Babcock Center is a 40-year-old, private, nonprofit corporation in Columbia. It provides housing and medical services for people with autism, mental retardation, head and spinal cord injuries, and other forms of disabilities.

The center contracts with the state Department of Disabilities and Special Needs under an annual, multimillion-dollar contract.

The Supreme Court said Circuit Judge Casey Manning erred on several points in issuing a summary judgment in favor of the state in 2004, rather than allowing a jury trial.

“Babcock Center had a duty to control appellant’s conduct to the extent necessary to prevent her from harming herself or to prevent others from harming her while staying at the center,” the justices wrote.

According to court documents, Madison, a court name used by the woman, who is now 32 years old, alleges to have the emotional and intellectual maturity of a 7- to 10-year-old.

While Madison can read and write, in court papers Bryant said her daughter understands math on only a second-grade level. She is unable to do common activities like wash clothes, cook, perform personal hygiene or tell time.

Bryant, who is Madison’s legal guardian, said she warned Babcock and state officials about inappropriate sexual contacts between the girl and current or former male residents of Babcock Center but was ignored.

Bryant said she tried to get Madison released from Babcock, but unsuccessfully.

According to the court, Madison left the center home one night with two men at 1 a.m., after going to bed with her clothing on, then sneaking out. Madison initially said she was raped, but in a later deposition said she was talked into having sex.

Both men were former residents of the Babcock Center home, according to the court. Neither man was criminally prosecuted for having sex with Madison.

“(Madison) has no kind of moral judgment,” said Lexington attorney Orrin G. Briggs, who represented Bryant and her daughter and said the ruling could have “far-reaching implications for all agencies that render care to people.”

“This is a very good decision,” Briggs said. He said he was unsure what the next step in the case would be.

Efforts to reach Turner, Padget, Graham & Laney of Columbia, the law firm representing Babcock and the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, were unsuccessful.

Some observers who read the opinion hailed the Supreme Court.

“The court said the same principles of law apply to people with mental incapacities as it does to people without,” said Harriett McBryde Johnson, an independent attorney in Charleston who focuses on cases involving people with disabilities.

“This decision says give her a chance and let the parties litigate what the standard of care is.”

Reach Burris at 803-771-8398.