Reference no: EM132271560

Facts:

The defendant, a licensed practical nurse (LPN), had criminal charges brought against her stemming from her treatment of a stroke patient. It was alleged that she had slapped the patient’s legs repeatedly and shackled him to his bed at the wrists and ankles. By the time of trial, the patient had died of causes unrelated to the charged conduct. During the trial, the state presented testimony of eyewitnesses, including the patient’s wife, hospital employees, and an investigator from the office of the attorney general. The defendant did not deny that she had restrained the patient, but claimed that her actions were necessary for the patient’s protection, as well as her own, and that her actions were neither assaultive nor cruel. The defendant claimed that the trial court improperly admitted evidence that the patient submitted.

Holding:

The Vermont Supreme Court held that the evidence that the patient gave was relevant and admissible.

Reason:

The patient’s awareness of what happened to him was relevant to the state’s case because the trial court, in its instruction to the jury, defined cruelty as “intentional and malicious infliction of physical or emotional pain or suffering upon a person.” By showing that the patient was aware of what had happened to him, the state allowed the jury to infer that he had suffered physical or emotional pain. The state presented a witness who was present when the incident occurred and who was able to describe the acts of abuse in detail. The credibility of this eyewitness testimony, and not what the patient’s testimony would have been, was the focus of the trial.

Question:

Do you agree with the court’s findings, why and at what point does the application of restraints become a cruelty?