SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota’s high court upheld a jury’s verdict that a children’s specialty hospital was not negligent in restraining a student and documenting it.
The South Dakota Supreme Court said that a Minnehaha County court didn’t abuse its discretion when it excluded evidence from the trial, the Argus Leader reported Thursday.
In 2013, Neil and Debbie Graff sued then Children’s Care Hospital and Schools, now LifeScape, after their son lived there as a student.
The Graffs accused staff of using a prone restraint more than 130 times, causing their son emotional stress, according to the lawsuit. A prone restraint requires a person to be on the floor face-down, while holding their arms and legs. A technique that was later prohibited under administrative rules. The lawsuit said that the school didn’t properly document the restraints or inform his parents about them.
The boy was diagnosed with global developmental delays and autism. He was at the facility from March to September of 2010.
A jury voted in favor of Children’s Care in 2018. Hospital staff testified that restraints were used when he was acting out in an aggressive manner and dangerous to himself or others.
The Graff family appealed, saying the circuit court should have allowed the jury to see Department of Health surveys. But the circuit court said the surveys only showed “deficiencies in record-keeping done by CCHS” and would be damaging.
The justices said they were also missing a full jury trial transcript of the case, arguing the lack of one “looms large in this appeal,” and that it “prevents their assessment of prejudice.”
Graff family attorney Luce told the justices that the hospital’s attorney was going to provide the transcript. But Children’s Care’s attorney Mark Haigh said it was the Graffs’ responsibility.
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