Kardas v. State

Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims awarding the claimant damages for the death by suicide of her husband, a patient at the Hew York State Psychiatric Institute. On August 10, 1960, the admitting physician of the Institute, although aware that on the previous day an observer at the clinic which had recommended admission thought the decedent was suicide prone, made a diagnosis that the decedent was not a suicide risk. His colleagues, two physicians on the staff of the Institute, concurred in his diagnosis. On August 27, 1960, the decedent escaped from the premises and committed…