Tort Negligence Liability For Mental Harm In Cook
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The tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress has four elements: (1) the defendant must act intentionally or recklessly; (2) the defendant's conduct must be extreme and outrageous; and (3) the conduct must be the cause (4) of severe emotional distress.
In claims of negligently inflicted psychiatric illness, the plaintiff's reaction to a traumatic event is usually measured against a standard of normal susceptibility and disposition. This measurement is used to determine the question of whether the defendant should have reasonably foreseen the plaintiff's injury.
The distinction between the liability of a lunatic or insane person in civil actions for torts committed by him, and in crimi- nal prosecutions, is well defined, and it has always been held, and upon sound reason, that though not punishable criminally, he is liable to a civil action for any tort he may commit."
These legal elements include a professional duty owed to a patient, breach of duty, proximate cause or causal con- nection elicited by a breach of duty, and resulting in- juries or damages suffered. 1 These 4 elements apply to all cases of negligence regardless of specialty or clin- ician level.
Impact on Civil Claims: If you are considering a civil claim for damages against a defendant found not guilty due to mental illness, this verdict can impact your case. Although it doesn't automatically preclude a civil suit, the defendant's mental state at the time of the incident becomes a significant factor.
A defendant who is found guilty but mentally ill may be sentenced to mental health treatment, at the conclusion of which the defendant will serve the remainder of their sentence in the same manner as any other defendant.
Tort law protects people from harms which result from the wrongful conduct of others. While we usually associate tort claims with harms to people or to property, the law also recognizes emotional or psychological harm as a distinct form of injury.
A mentally disordered defendant who commits negligence will be liable, even if his or her actions could be attributable to illness. Since a seventeenth-century dictum indicating that a 'lunatic' would be answerable in trespass,3. the courts have been unwilling to excuse mentally ill defendants' tortious liabilities.
