Robert Carradine’s Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against UCLA, Alleging Psychiatric Unit Failures Before Actor’s Death

The family of actor Robert Carradine has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Regents of the University of California, alleging that serious safety failures at a UCLA psychiatric facility contributed to his death earlier this year.

The lawsuit, filed Friday and obtained by TheWrap, accuses the hospital system of wrongful death as well as elder abuse and neglect. Carradine’s relatives contend that the veteran actor entered UCLA seeking protection and treatment during a severe mental health crisis but was instead placed in an environment that failed to follow safeguards designed for vulnerable psychiatric patients.

According to the filing, Carradine arrived at UCLA’s locked psychiatric unit feeling reassured that hospitalization could help stabilize his condition.

His family said he believed the structured environment would give him an opportunity to rest and receive additional inpatient treatment for intense anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

“Robert’s hopes for successful treatment didn’t match the reality he had stepped into,” the lawsuit states.

The family argues that Carradine entered what he believed would be a secure treatment setting but that basic safety protocols were allegedly not properly followed.

Among the central allegations is that hospital personnel failed to remove personal belongings that UCLA’s own policies reportedly identified as prohibited for patients considered at risk of self-harm.

The lawsuit claims that Carradine was permitted to retain an item that should have been confiscated upon admission under standard psychiatric safety procedures.

His relatives also allege that furniture was left inside his room that was not ordinarily part of the locked psychiatric unit’s standard setup.

The family contends that both circumstances created avoidable safety risks.

According to the lawsuit, UCLA had written policies addressing precisely those concerns.

The filing argues that psychiatric facilities commonly remove certain personal items from high-risk patients as a preventive measure and alleges that UCLA’s own list of prohibited belongings included the item Carradine was allowed to keep.

The family says admission paperwork documenting Carradine’s belongings supports their claim that hospital staff did not confiscate it.

Approximately 19 hours after his admission, Carradine experienced a life-threatening incident inside the facility, according to the lawsuit.

His family maintains that the tragedy was not caused by a lack of institutional knowledge or resources.

Instead, they allege that hospital employees failed to consistently implement safeguards already established by UCLA.

“None of this happened because UCLA lacked the knowledge, the policies or the means,” the lawsuit states, arguing that crucial protections intended to preserve Carradine’s safety were not adequately carried out.

The lawsuit also raises questions about patient monitoring.

Carradine’s relatives claim staff members were supposed to conduct regular checks on him approximately every 15 minutes because of his psychiatric condition and suicide risk.

However, the filing alleges that there were significant periods during which no one entered his room or visually checked on him.

That alleged lapse in observation has become another central element of the family’s wrongful death claim.

Following the incident, Carradine never regained consciousness, according to the filing.

He suffered an anoxic brain injury, a condition caused when the brain is deprived of adequate oxygen, and remained in intensive care for approximately five weeks.

Carradine died on February 23, 2026.

He was 71.

Beyond the alleged safety failures themselves, the family is also challenging UCLA’s account of what happened.

The lawsuit claims that the hospital failed to conduct an adequate investigation and that portions of its written records did not accurately reflect surveillance footage associated with the incident.

According to Carradine’s relatives, video evidence contradicted the version of events preserved in hospital documentation.

The family is seeking general damages, special and economic damages, as well as damages related to their wrongful death claims.

Representatives for the Regents of the University of California had not immediately responded to TheWrap’s request for comment regarding the allegations.

The lawsuit comes nearly six months after Carradine’s family publicly confirmed his death.

At the time, his relatives released an emotional statement remembering him not simply as a recognizable Hollywood actor but as a father, grandfather, brother and uncle whose warmth profoundly affected those around him.

“It is with profound sadness that we must share that our beloved father, grandfather, uncle and brother Robert Carradine has passed away,” the family said.

They described Carradine as a source of light to the people who knew him and spoke openly about his long struggle with bipolar disorder.

According to the family, Carradine had been living with the condition for nearly two decades.

They said they hoped greater openness about his experience could help reduce the stigma that often surrounds mental illness and encourage people facing similar struggles to seek support.

The family also requested privacy while grieving what they described as an unimaginable loss.

Born Robert Reed Carradine on March 24, 1954, in Los Angeles, Carradine belonged to one of Hollywood’s most recognizable acting dynasties.

His father was veteran actor John Carradine, whose career stretched across decades of American film and theater.

His mother, Sonia Sorel, was also an actress.

Robert’s brothers included actors David Carradine and Keith Carradine, while another brother, Christopher Carradine, pursued a career as a Disney Imagineer.

Robert eventually followed the same artistic path as several members of his family and built a lengthy career of his own.

He became especially well known for playing Lewis Skolnick in the Revenge of the Nerds films, beginning with the 1984 comedy that became one of the defining titles of his career.

Carradine also appeared in the acclaimed 1980 Western The Long Riders, which notably featured several sets of real-life acting brothers.

A younger generation of viewers later came to know him through Disney Channel’s hugely popular series Lizzie McGuire.

Carradine played Sam McGuire, the father of Hilary Duff’s title character, becoming a familiar television presence for millions of viewers in the early 2000s.

His career therefore spanned multiple generations, from Hollywood films of the 1970s and 1980s to family television programming decades later.

But the lawsuit filed by his family now shifts attention away from Carradine’s screen career and toward the circumstances surrounding his final weeks.

At the heart of the case is a fundamental question: whether a psychiatric facility entrusted with protecting a patient in crisis followed the safeguards it already had in place.

Carradine’s family argues that he voluntarily entered UCLA expecting exactly that kind of protection.

Their lawsuit alleges that the system failed him at the moment when he depended on it most.

UCLA and the University of California Regents have not yet publicly provided a detailed response to the specific allegations contained in the filing.

As the legal case moves forward, Carradine’s relatives appear determined not only to seek accountability for his death but also to continue the message they emphasized when announcing his passing: that mental illness should be treated seriously, openly and without stigma.

For a family that described Robert Carradine as a “beacon of light,” the lawsuit now represents an effort to understand how a hospital stay intended to protect him instead preceded the final tragedy of his life.