Cohen v. State of NY

*499Reynolds, J. (dissenting).

We cannot agree that the State should be liable for the tragic death of claimant’s intestate on the basis of the evidence presented in the instant record. Concededly, the only duty the State owed to the decedent was to exercise reasonable care to protect him from himself (e.g., Hirsh v State of New York, 8 NY2d 125). The majority does not find such a lack of care on the basis of negligence on the part of Dr. Sverd, thus implicitly finding his actions to constitute no more than an error in judgment, or in the decision to utilize "milieu therapy” or the "open door…