A nurse's aide can sue for being assaulted by a patient, after an occupational therapist neglected to re-tie the patient's restraints after an aborted therapy session, according to the Court of Appeals of Wisconsin.

The aide's ability to sue was limited by the fact she technically had no legal right to file a personal injury lawsuit against the hospital, her own employer, for an on-the-job injury. However, in this particular case, the occupational therapist did not enjoy a similar technical immunity from suit and could be sued by the aide.

   The aide's job was to sit with the patient, a liver transplant recipient. He was described in the court record as not lucid, but loud and extremely uncooperative. It had been charted that he had begun throwing things around the room on a prior occasion when he had managed to get an arm free from his restraints.

   The occupational therapist had to discontinue her therapy session with the patient because he became uncooperative. However, she neglected to re-tie his restraints completely before she left the room.

   As the therapist left, the aide returned to the room to continue sitting with the patient. When the aide approached to assist him with a glass of water, he grabbed her and punched her in the face and head.