Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in New York
defamation
I am a nurse and I was physically attacked by a patient. I requested that the patient be discharged from the clinic but I was told that only the director can make that decision. The director is also the patients physician and he refused the request.The patient continued to visit the clinic which caused me a great deal of anxiety. The doctor in return began to make malicious comments to me , some in front of coworkers. he said things like ''are you sure it was the patient that attacked you and not you the patient''. one time when I was talking to my supervisor he said ''what are you complaining about me?what is she your therapist now or she taking the place of your psychiatrist'' in another ocassion he saw me standing on a chair and said''oh why don't you fall so that you could sue the hospital'' and when I told him that I didn't have to fall to sue, he said ''oh no all you have to do is tell them I am being mean to you and then have your supervisor testify for you'' I made my supervisor aware of his comments and she did nothing about stopping him. I then wrote a letter to administration and they replied that the doctor stated that his comments were meant to be humorous. I have since been on a medical leave for PTSD and panic attacks.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: defamation
The kind of outlandish comments that you have mentioned in your question, while possibly creating hostility in your workplace, will not to my mind, support a defamation action.
In a defamation case, to succeed one must establish that someone (the doctor) has said something about you, which he meant to be perceived as a statement of fact, that
was false and which he(the speaker) knew with a high degree of probability was false.
Otherwise you infringe on first amendment princples of free speech; these examples, even if nasty, seem to be rhetorical hyperpole.
Not meant to be, or objectively perceived to be
meant, as statements of fact.
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