Gammon v. Osteopathic Hospital of Maine, Inc.
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
534 A.2d 1282 (1987)
After Gammon's (plaintiff's) father died at Osteopathic Hospital of Maine (defendant), the hospital, due to alleged negligence, gave Gammon a bag supposedly containing his father's personal effects that instead contained a severed leg belonging to another patient; Gammon subsequently suffered nightmares, personality changes, and deteriorating family relationships, and sued for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The trial court directed a verdict for the hospital, applying traditional requirements like physical impact or objective manifestation of harm.
Whether a plaintiff may recover for emotional distress that was a reasonably foreseeable result of the defendant's negligence, without satisfying older, more rigid requirements like physical impact or an accompanying tort.