Nevada Mental Health Facility Sued For Medical Negligence

By Daniel Hawn

Published on November 28, 2005

A schizophrenic man who has been charged in a shooting incident is suing the mental health facility he claims denied him his medication two days prior to the shooting.

Frank Robert Lyles, 28, faces a murder charge and four counts of attempted murder in association with the 2003 death of Kevin Chandler, 49, and the injuring of two police officers during a shootout that took place on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Las Vegas.

According to court records, Lyles went on the shooting spree two days after going to the Nevada Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services clinic. While at the clinic, he was denied medication for his condition because he had arrived late for his appointment, court documents state.

Lyles' attorney, Hamilton Moore, claims that the clinic's refusal to provide Lyles his medication was medical malpractice and led to the shooting incident.

An affidavit filed in the case by Dr. Anna Scherzer of the Scottsdale Institute for Behavioral Sciences in Arizona says that the clinic's guidelines state that no client of the facility is to be turned away without adequate medication to last until he or she can be seen again.

A spokesperson for the Nevada attorney general's office said last week that the deputy attorney general representing Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services was unable to comment on the lawsuit.

The suit asks for damages in excess of $10,000.

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