Parents sue Coastal Harbor over son’s death after psychiatric discharge

Parents of 18-year-old Jadiyus Williams have filed a wrongful death and professional negligence lawsuit in Chatham County Superior Court, alleging Coastal Harbor Health System and psychiatric providers mishandled his inpatient and discharge care in November 2024. The case says gaps in treatment, discharge planning and follow-up left Williams vulnerable before he died days later on Interstate 95.

Why it matters: - The lawsuit seeks wrongful death damages for the full value of Jadiyus Williams’s life, plus estate claims for pre-death pain and suffering, funeral costs, burial expenses and medical expenses. - The case raises questions about psychiatric discharge planning, family communication and outpatient handoff after an involuntary inpatient admission. - The complaint alleges that care failures after discharge helped set the stage for Williams’s death days later.

What happened: - The Horne Law Firm, P.C. and Conn Law, LLC filed the lawsuit for Whitney Roberts, individually and as administrator of Jadiyus Williams’s estate, and for James Williams, Jadiyus’s surviving parents. - The case, Civil Action No. SPCV26-00726-MO, is pending in Chatham County Superior Court in Georgia. - The defendants are UHS of Savannah, LLC d/b/a Coastal Harbor Health System; Saleem Sayyar, MD, who states in his answer that his name is correctly spelled Seleem Sayyar, M.D.; Nohl Braun, MD; C. Ashley Richards, FNP; and Elizabeth E. Smith, FNP. - The action was filed as a renewal action under O.C.G.A. § 9-2-61 after a prior lawsuit, Civil Action No. STCV26-01368, was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice in State Court of Chatham County. - The complaint says Williams was 18 and had been struggling with mental health issues before November 2024, including a recent diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. - Court documents say his mother started involuntary commitment proceedings, Liberty County Probate Court entered an Order to Apprehend on Nov. 12, 2024, and police took Williams to Coastal Harbor in Savannah on Nov. 13, 2024 for inpatient psychiatric treatment.

The details: - The complaint alleges Williams was found to have homicidal ideations on admission, was diagnosed with major depressive disorder with psychosis, met criteria for involuntary inpatient admission and was ordered to be monitored every 15 minutes. - The complaint says Dr. Sayyar ordered family therapy as part of the treatment plan and that Williams’s only noted protective factor was family support, but family therapy was never provided. - The complaint alleges Williams reported on Nov. 17, 2024, that “spirits consistently talk to him,” and that the records show no apparent follow-up. - The complaint says Dr. Sayyar signed discharge paperwork on Nov. 20, 2024 without apparently evaluating Williams or creating a family or community safety plan. - The complaint alleges Williams’s prescribed Depakote and Zyprexa were not administered on the day of discharge and that his insight and judgment were still rated only “fair” after a decline in behavioral presentation before discharge. - The complaint says Williams’s family received no advance notice of the discharge, and Roberts learned he had been released when he arrived at her home by medical transport. - The complaint alleges Coastal Harbor said Williams’s records would be faxed to Gateway BHS, the outpatient provider for a Nov. 25, 2024 follow-up visit, but no fax was sent or received. - The complaint says Roberts drove Williams to Gateway BHS on the morning of Nov. 25, 2024, found the facility closed, and watched him leave on foot after he became upset in the parking lot. - The complaint says Roberts never saw her son alive again. - The complaint alleges police body-camera footage from Nov. 29, 2024 showed Williams in a psychotic state at a Chatham County gas station, thinking irrationally and partially unclothed. - Court documents say Williams was later found walking on the shoulder of Interstate 95, fled across several lanes of traffic from a responding officer, and was struck by a vehicle traveling at highway speed. - Williams was pronounced dead at the scene on Nov. 29, 2024, at age 18. - The complaint also alleges the defendants did not communicate with Williams’s family about his medications, his conditions or warning signs that would require additional care. - The complaint is supported by an affidavit from David S. Husted, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist, as required by O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1. - In answers filed June 11, 2026, Dr. Sayyar and Dr. Braun denied violating the standard of care and denied that any act or omission by either caused the alleged injuries. - The two physicians also raised defenses including intervening and superseding causation, argued that the complaint fails to state a claim, denied being UHS employees during the relevant period and challenged whether the Husted affidavit complies with Georgia law. - Both physicians admitted that Depakote and Zyprexa were prescribed and that Williams was discharged with prescriptions for those drugs on Nov. 20, 2024. - Both physicians generally admitted that family therapy was not provided during the admission, while generally denying that family therapy was ordered. - Dr. Sayyar admitted he treated Williams during the admission and signed the discharge paperwork. - The nurse practitioner defendants said they did not provide psychiatric care to Williams during his admission. - All parties demanded a jury trial.

Between the lines: - The suit centers on whether the providers did enough to manage a high-risk psychiatric patient during discharge and whether the family got the information needed to respond once Williams left inpatient care. - The defendants’ answers narrow the fight to causation, staffing relationships and whether the expert affidavit meets Georgia procedural rules. - The filing shows some facts are not in dispute, including the prescriptions, discharge date and lack of family therapy during the admission. - No court has made findings of fact or ruled on liability.

What's next: - The case will move forward in Chatham County Superior Court unless the parties reach a settlement or a court resolves the claims before trial. - Discovery and pretrial motions are likely to focus on treatment records, discharge decisions, communications with the family and the chain of events after Williams left Coastal Harbor. - A jury trial has been demanded.