The California Supreme Court rules that Alzheimer's patients and their families aren't liable to home health care workers for injuries the workers incur on the job. Gregory v. Cott (Cal., No. S209125, Aug. 4, 2014).
A home health agency assigned Carolyn Gregory to work with Alzheimer's patient Lorraine Cott in Mrs. Cott's home. Ms. Gregory was trained to care for Alzheimer's patients, and Mrs. Cott's husband told Ms. Gregory that Mrs. Cott could be combative. Ms. Gregory was injured attempting to restrain Mrs. Cott.
Ms. Gregory sued the Cotts for negligence, premises liability, and battery. The trial court granted the Cotts summary judgment, and the appeals court affirmed. Ms. Gregory appealed, arguing that while Alzheimer's patients aren't liable to health care workers in institutions, a different rule should apply for home health care workers.
The California Supreme Court affirms, holding that Ms. Gregory assumed the risk of injury when she went to work for the Cotts. According to the court, it "is a settled principle that those hired to manage a hazardous condition may not sue their clients for injuries caused by the very risks they were retained to confront." The court also notes that if "liability were imposed for caregiver injuries in private homes, but not in hospitals or nursing homes, the incentive for families to institutionalize Alzheimer‘s sufferers would increase." One justice dissents, arguing that "the fact an occupation involves some peripheral risks of injury does not in itself justify application of primary assumption of risk to all workers or trainees in that occupation."
For the full text of this decision, go to: https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S209125.PDF
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