Medical Director Liability for Failure to Report Deaths Preceding Homicide

The appellate court addressed the liability of a medical director at a nursing home where an orderly subsequently murdered eight residents, focusing on the director's failure to report two unexpected deaths occurring six weeks prior to the final murder. The court determined that under the relevant cantonal Health Act, the director was obliged to report these two sudden, unexplained deaths to the medical examiner and prosecutor because, in light of prior internal suspicions regarding unusual mortality rates linked to the orderly's shifts, the deaths were considered "extraordinary," even though the director feared causing unnecessary alarm or being proven wrong. However, despite affirming the breach of the reporting duty, the court ultimately acquitted the director of criminal responsibility, specifically negligent homicide, for the final victim's death because the failure to report the earlier incidents was not found to be a causal factor in that subsequent homicide.