A Court of Claims judge has found the state fully liable for the attempted suicide of a psychiatric patient who claimed he was able to pocket plastic knives from the dining area because the staff failed to account for utensils after meals.
Edward Acerbo, a patient at the Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg since November 2005, had been hearing voices and suffering night palpitations. On Feb. 23, 2006, he hid a plastic knife in his pocket after lunch and again after dinner, and cut his neck in the bathroom later that night.
