Berberian v. Lynn
New Jersey Supreme Court
845 A.2d 122 (2004)
Edmund Gernannt, an Alzheimer's patient known to behave violently, was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric unit; when he tried to escape through a fire exit and a nurse tried to stop him, the unit's head nurse, Mary Berberian (plaintiff), who knew his history of aggression, reached for his hand, and he grabbed and pushed her, breaking her leg in the fall. Berberian sued Gernannt's guardian, Diane Lynn (defendant), for negligence, and the trial court instructed the jury to judge Gernannt by the standard of a reasonable person with Alzheimer's dementia rather than an ordinary reasonable person; the jury found for Lynn, and the appellate court affirmed.
Whether a mentally incapacitated patient owes an ordinary reasonable-person duty of care to the professional caregiver specifically charged with controlling and protecting him from harming others.