Legal Question in Business Law in Michigan

Lofton Jackson, a university police officer, was called to the emergency room of Northeastern Hospital (located adjacent to the university) to help subdue an unruly patient. Prior to Jackson�s arrival, the patient had informed the doctors and nurses in the emergency room that he was infected with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). While Jackson assisted medical personnel in restraining the patient, the patient bit Jackson on the forearm. The patient had previously bitten himself, and his blood was in and around his mouth when he bit Jackson. On previous occasions the officer (who was not an employee of the hospital) had assisted in restraining AIDS patients, but it was always the hospital�s procedure to inform him that these patients were infected with AIDS so that proper precautions could be taken. The hospital did not warn of the patient�s condition on this night and although Jackson eventually tested negative for AIDS, he claimed that he suffered severe emotional distress that caused him sleeplessness, loss of appetite, and headaches for which he was under treatment by a physician. Because of the AIDS exposure�he was shunned by his family and co-workers and generally felt like a social outcast with an uncertain future.

IN HIS SUIT AGAINST THE HOSPITAL TO RECOVER FOR EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, WHAT WILL THE COURT DECIDE?

Should I include identifying the duty of care owed by the hospital to Jackson. How was that duty established? Has Jackson suffered a legally recognizable injury? How does the issue of assumption of risk enter into the analysis?

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