Liability in abuse investigations

HONOLULU — The guardian of an abused child sued a military hospital in Hawaii because it had allegedly not properly investigated and reported the death of the child’s older sibling a year before. The federal court found that the hospital did not have a duty to the child because the older sibling’s death, which was determined to be caused by a herpes infection but child abuse was never considered, is too far removed from the younger child’s injuries: “The potential for harm to a future sibling ... was only remotely foreseeable at the time.”