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Family of murdered Spokane Valley woman can sue killer’s psychiatrist for medical negligence

Rebecca Schiering in a photo with her two twin boys, 14 months old at the time of photo, that appeared on a St. Margaret’s postcard in 2001. (Courtesy of St. Margaret’s Shelter)
From staff ,wire reports
Rebecca Schiering in a photo with her two twin boys, 14 months old at the time of photo, that appeared on a St. Margaret’s postcard in 2001. (Courtesy of St. Margaret’s Shelter)

The Washington Supreme Court says the family of a Spokane woman who was murdered with her son can pursue a lawsuit over whether the killer’s psychiatrist should have done more to protect the victims.

Rebecca Schiering and one of her 9-year-old sons, Phillip, were killed by her ex-fiance, Jan DeMeerleer, in 2010. He also attempted to kill Schiering’s 17-year-old son, who escaped. Another 9-year-old son was unharmed. DeMeerleer then committed suicide.

Family members told The Spokesman-Review at the time that Schiering had moved out of DeMeerleer’s home two months prior after he hurt one of her youngest boys during a domestic violence incident. There was an attempt at reconciliation but Schiering broke up with DeMeerleer for good the day before the attack.

Schiering’s family sued the killer’s psychiatrist, Dr. Howard Ashby, and Spokane Psychiatric Clinic, saying more should have been done to protect them.

Ashby had treated DeMeerleer for a bipolar disorder for about nine years, and during that time the patient had at times expressed suicidal and homicidal thoughts. But the clinic argued that he never communicated an actual threat against Schiering and so it had no duty to the victims.

In a 6-3 opinion Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled the lawsuit can go forward. The majority said mental health professionals must act with reasonable care to mitigate the dangerousness of psychiatric patients.

“Ashby knew of DeMeerleer’s history of suicidal and homicidal thoughts, knew that DeMeerleer had attempted to act out suicide and retribution at different times, recognized that DeMeerleer was unstable at their last meeting and knew that DeMeerleer had a history of noncompliance with his anti-psychotic medications,” the majority of the court wrote in the opinion.

Justice Charles Wiggins, who dissented along with justices Susan Owens and Barbara Madsen, wrote that he did not believe that Beverly Volk had a viable medical negligence claim and allowing her to sue the psychiatrist could “chill critical mental health services while sparking unnecessary litigation.”