Mentally Ill Resident Injured: Court Says He Can Sue Halfway House
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
June 1998
Quick Summary: A resident of a transitional are halfway house for mentally-ill persons is entitled to a degree of protection from harm from other residents.
What is reasonable depends on the resident’s physical and mental incapacity.
The resident is not expected to take any degree of care for his own safety greater than he is capable of exercising.
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, 1998.A man with mental illness was living in a transitional care facility or "half-way house." Another resident threatened him, so he ran to his room and locked the door. The other resident tried to force the lock open, but failed. However, the damage to the lock prevented the victim from letting himself out of his own room, so after an hour he climbed out the window and fell, sustaining injuries for which he filed suit.
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, believed the resident had the right to expect the facility would do a better job of supervising other residents so that he would not have to retreat to his room and lock himself in for his own safety. The facility was also remiss for allowing him to remain in his room for over an hour without checking on him.
The court did not fault the resident for climbing out the window, as there should have been window bars to keep him from doing that, the court felt.
Campbell v. Housing, 668 N.Y.S.2d 634 (N.Y. App., 1998).