Expert Witness Said Northrop Did Not Meet Standard of Care in Wrongful Death Trial Over 2015 Student Suicide

WOBURN, Mass. — An expert witness said Harvard Counseling and Mental Health Service employee Melanie G. Northrop did not meet the standard of care required of a licensed social work case manager during a wrongful death trial over the 2015 suicide of undergraduate student Luke Z. Tang ’18.

Alex Redcay, a licensed clinical social worker who served as the expert witness, faced aggressive cross-examination by an attorney representing Northrop during the second day of the trial Wednesday, following opening arguments the day before. Northrop’s attorney interrogated Redcay over her grasp of case documents and her evaluation of the care provided to Tang.

David W. Heinlein, an attorney for Tang’s parents, first asked Redcay to define the standard of care required of social workers by the National Association of Social Workers in their code of ethics. According to the NASW, the standards include a duty to know about their clients’ issues, assess their clients, and implement care plans for them.

Redcay alleged that Northrop failed to uphold her standard of care for Tang on several counts.

Northrop — who served as Tang’s case manager and was responsible for coordinating his mental health treatment and resources — met with Tang after his discharge from McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., where he spent a week following his initial suicide attempt in April 2015.

According to Redclay, Northrop was obligated to obtain the full report of Tang’s discharge from McLean Hospital and develop an adequate “safety plan” with coping strategies and contact information with supportive affiliates. Redclay alleged that Northrop failed to fulfill these duties as well.

Instead, Northrop “did the opposite” of creating a support network for Tang, according to Redcay. On May 1, Tang signed a contract with the College detailing conditions for his continued enrollment at Harvard.

“They’re merging an academic contract with a safety plan,” Redcay said regarding the contract, calling it a “behavioral contract” that was “punitive.”

During the meeting after Tang’s discharge, he informed Northrop of plans to spend the summer in China. Northrop told Tang then that he needed to “speak with his therapist about a support plan in China and that he would be expected to continue his treatment when he returned to the college and Lowell House,” according to the lawsuit.

However, Redcay alleged that Northrop failed to ensure “continuity of care” for Tang over the summer and did not find an appropriate therapist for him upon his return to campus in the fall.

Redcay described the levels of being at-risk for suicide, saying clients at the highest risk of suicide were those who had previous attempts.

“We’ve established he attempted suicide — that he was at the highest risk, he minimized issues,” Redclay said.

She added that, in her view, an effective safety plan could have “prevented” Tang’s death.

William J. Dailey III, the attorney representing Northrop alongside lawyer Victoria C. Goetz, led Redcay’s cross-examination. Dailey had jury notebooks distributed before launching into a series of leading questions about Northrop’s care of Tang and Redcay’s review of the records of the case.

Dailey asked Redcay to recall several details regarding Tang’s treatment at McLean Hospital and her evaluation of the aftercare plan formulated by his treatment team followed the standard of care.

Redcay said she had reviewed the McLean Hospital report for the trial and said nobody could “review thousands of documents.”

Superior Court Judge John P. Pappas is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last up to eight days.

The wrongful death lawsuit — filed by Tang’s father in 2018 — alleged Harvard and several of its employees, including Northrop and two resident deans, were negligent in their duty to provide care for Tang after his initial suicide attempt in April 2015.

In November 2022, a judge allowed charges against Northrop to move forward.

In December 2022, Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Brent A. Tingle dismissed the claims against Harvard and the two resident deans after ruling that they sufficiently satisfied their duty of care to Tang. In January 2023, Tang’s family appealed the dismissal.

Redcay is one of 25 witnesses called to testify at the trial — a list that includes Tang’s family, Harvard employees, and medical professionals who had interacted with Tang. Pappas allowed Harvard’s motion to not compel Harvard officials — who were initially called as witnesses by Tang’s family — to testify in the trial.

—Staff writer Joyce E. Kim can be reached at joyce.kim@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @joycekim324.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.