NY Facility Staff Subject to Suit for Disabled Patient’s Death

Staff members at a New York-run mental-health facility weren’t entitled to pretrial judgment on claims they violated a patient’s constitutional rights by failing to provide him with adequate medical care, a federal appeals court said Tuesday.

A distinction the district court made based on the patient’s voluntary admission to the Valley Ridge Center for Intensive Treatment—a facility operated by the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities—didn’t apply in this case, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in a unanimous ruling vacating that judgment.

The US Supreme Court has said a state’s affirmative deprivation ...