Patient Assaults Nurse: Psychiatric Issues Did Not Mitigate Patient’s Intent To Cause Harm.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
Harassment in the second degree occurs when a person strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects another person to physical contact, with the intent to harass, annoy or harm the other. The accused offered no explanation how his altered mental state or his psychiatric issues affected his ability to form the intent to act as he did. NEW YORK SUPREME COURT APPELLATE TERM June 28, 2018
Another hospital employee testified that she saw the accused, an emergency room patient, after lying on his right side, turn over and reach out with his right hand and strike the nurse in the neck who was caring for him, with sufficient force to throw her back against the wall. The coworker’s account was basically the same as the testimony from the nurse victim herself.
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Term, upheld the patient’s conviction for harassment in the second degree. In his defense the patient pointed to an ambulance paramedic’s note as to his altered mental state and delirium and claimed that a nurse told him she expected he would be admitted to the hospital’s psychiatric unit. He also brought up the fact that a psychiatrist examined him in the hospital the next day. However, that led to no further mental health treatment.
The Court was not satisfied that hints at possible psych issues proved the accused was not capable of forming the intent to harm the nurse that is an element of the crime of harassment. The Court further ruled the accused’s right to a fair trial was not prejudiced by the judge’s denial of his lawyer’s request for an adjournment for extra time to obtain expert psychiatric testimony to aid his defense. The testimony and documentation from his hospital stay only speculated as to possible psychiatric issues but did not reveal any actual mental impairment that affected his actions. People v. Defendant, 2018 WL 3309500 (N.Y. App., June 28, 2018).
More references from nursinglaw.com
http://www.nursinglaw.com/assault2.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/assault-psychiatric-patient.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/assault-patient-caregiver.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/dementia-care-nursing-facility.pdf