Bruscato v. O'BRIEN

705 S.E.2d 275, 307 Ga. App. 452, 2010 Fulton County D. Rep. 3980, 2010 Ga. App. LEXIS 1130
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 1, 2010
DocketA10A1230
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 705 S.E.2d 275 (Bruscato v. O'BRIEN) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bruscato v. O'BRIEN, 705 S.E.2d 275, 307 Ga. App. 452, 2010 Fulton County D. Rep. 3980, 2010 Ga. App. LEXIS 1130 (Ga. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

Ellington, Judge.

Vito J. Bruscato, in his capacity as the guardian of Victor Bruscato, appeals from the order of the Superior Court of DeKalb County, which granted summary judgment to Victor Bruscato’s psychiatrist, Derek Johnson O’Brien, M.D., in this medical malpractice case.1 The superior court concluded that Bruscato’s malpractice claims were barred either by the application of the “impact rule” or on public policy grounds. For the following reasons, we reverse.

To prevail at summary judgment under OCGA § 9-11-56, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law. On appeal of a [453]*453grant of summary judgment, this Court reviews the evidence de novo to determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists or whether the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

(Citations omitted.) Boggs v. Bosley Med. Institute, 228 Ga. App. 598, 599 (492 SE2d 264) (1997).

So viewed, the record reveals the following. O’Brien began treating Victor Bruscato, a then 38-year-old, mentally ill patient with a history of violence, in January 2001. O’Brien reviewed Bruscato’s treatment records, which revealed that Bruscato’s mental illness manifested in childhood and that he had been diagnosed over the course of his life with mental retardation, organic mood disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, schizophrenia, a nonspecified psychotic disorder, pedophilia, and intermittent explosive disorder. Bruscato had expressed homicidal thoughts toward his parents, and he had physically assaulted them and others, including a hospital employee and a young girl. He had also experienced auditory hallucinations that commanded him to kill people or to molest girls.

When O’Brien began treating Bruscato, Bruscato had been living with his parents for almost two years. Before that, he had been living in a group home operated by the Gwinnett-Rockdale-Newton Community Service Board (“CSB”), but he had been removed from the home because of the risk that he might sexually assault a girl. Bruscato’s expert witness opined that his elderly parents were ill-equipped to manage a severely mentally-ill adult and were “strong-armed” into taking him home. While at home, Bruscato continued receiving outpatient treatment from the CSB. Bruscato’s expert witness opined that the medications the CSB staff administered to Bruscato controlled his violent behavior and sexual impulses. O’Brien knew that, because Bruscato was potentially dangerous, the CSB required his parents to monitor him continuously.

In late May 2002, O’Brien ordered that two of Bruscato’s medications, Zyprexa and Luvox, be discontinued for six weeks to rule out the possibility that Bruscato might be developing neuro-leptic malignancy syndrome (“NMS”). O’Brien’s own expert witness opined that, if Bruscato had NMS, which the expert believed he did not, the proper procedure would be to hospitalize him. He also opined that withholding Bruscato’s medications for that period to rule out the possibility of NMS, which is very rare, was not medically justified.

According to a family friend, about two-and-a-half weeks after Bruscato stopped taking Zyprexa and Luvox, he began having nightmares, panic attacks, and bouts of heavy sweating. He also started hearing voices telling him to kill, and he became increasingly [454]*454hostile toward his parents. On July 22, O’Brien met with Bruscato briefly and noted that he spoke rapidly, seemed excited, and was feeling angry at women. O’Brien, however, did not make any changes to Bruscato’s treatment plan. On August 11, Bruscato scrawled a “prayer note,” stating: “[I] need prayer big time devil tormenting me.” O’Brien opined in his deposition that the letter “could convey psychosis.” On August 14, a friend visiting Bruscato’s home observed him rocking back and forth on his bed, pleading for the voices in his head to leave him alone. A nurse, who also visited on the same day, noted that Bruscato was argumentative, was expressing thoughts about sexual fantasies and dreams, and was generally irritable.

On August 15, Bruscato crushed his mother’s skull with a battery charger and stabbed her 72 times, killing her. When questioned by the arresting officers, Bruscato said that he killed his mother and that he knew it was wrong, but that the devil had told him to do it. After Bruscato was jailed, the assistant director of prison mental health services wrote Bruscato’s criminal defense attorney. She advised him that, when Bruscato was arrested, he had been “non-compliant with his anti-psychotic medications,” and, during his intake assessment, he had reported auditory hallucinations that were “persecutory in nature,” that he had trouble controlling his impulses, and that he had very poor insight into his situation, asking “what member of his family would become his new mother.” Bruscato wondered whether his mother could be “brought back to life.” After reintroducing Zyprexa into Bruscato’s medication regimen, the director noted that he became “compliant” and that his condition “improved steadily.” Although Bruscato was indicted for his mother’s murder in 2002, he was found to be incompetent to stand trial. As of the date of the trial court’s summary judgment order in the instant case, Bruscato has been residing at Central State Hospital, where he had been committed.

Bruscato’s expert witness opined that when O’Brien

abruptly terminated [Bruscato’s] Zyprexa, not only was this a violation of the standard of care required of Dr. O’Brien, it resulted in the imposition of chemical changes in [Brusca-to’s] brain. Those chemical changes in turn produced adverse physical responses in [Bruscato’s] brain and ultimately in his body.

The expert stated that Bruscato’s mental illness was not merely emotional or behavioral, but neurological — “a medical disorder.” The expert further opined that the chemical changes that resulted from withholding medication caused Bruscato to “decompensate” [455]*455and experience the return of the most severe symptoms of his medical disorder, including auditory command hallucinations, agitation, and hostility. The expert concluded that O’Brien’s treatment “manifested gross negligence and a disregard of the consequences of leaving a historically violent and potentially psychotic patient un-medicated,” which ultimately led to Bruscato’s killing his mother while in a psychotic state.

1. Bruscato contends the trial court erred when it granted O’Brien’s motion for summary judgment based upon a finding that he “failed to establish an injury for which the law provides recovery,” and entered judgment in favor of O’Brien on all counts of the complaint. Specifically, Bruscato argues that the court erred in characterizing his claim for damages arising prior to the attack on his mother as a claim for “[mjental distress and anguish” and concluding that, because Bruscato had suffered no physical injury or pecuniary loss prior to the attack, he was barred from recovering for the “negligent infliction of emotional distress” by the so-called “impact rule.”2 We agree.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
705 S.E.2d 275, 307 Ga. App. 452, 2010 Fulton County D. Rep. 3980, 2010 Ga. App. LEXIS 1130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bruscato-v-obrien-gactapp-2010.