Morrison Mahoney Partner Peter Knight and Associate John Babcock recently obtained summary judgment on behalf of our client, a pediatrician, in a medical malpractice case in the Lawrence Superior Court. The plaintiff, an adult with significant developmental and psychiatric diagnoses, alleged that she suffered assault/battery and negligent mental health care while she was a resident at a special needs school. The plaintiff named the school and sixteen individual care providers as defendants. Our client was an independent contractor with the school that only saw the patient on a few occasions over the course of several years for routine physical examinations. In moving for summary judgment, we argued that our client was not a member of the plaintiff’s mental health team as alleged in the complaint. We further argued that our client had no affirmative duty to intervene or make recommendations regarding the plaintiff’s mental health care, which was outside of the scope of his treatment of the plaintiff.