Court Opinion

ID: 9764830
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:41:24.190474+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:01.865260
License: Public Domain

Doyle, Judge,
concurring specially in part and dissenting in part.
I agree fully with Division 1 of the majority opinion. In addition, even though the impact rule does not apply to Bruscato’s medical malpractice claim, I note that the expert, testimony of Roy Neil Johnston, M.D., that Bruscato suffered a physical injury upon the discontinuation of his anti-psychotic medication by Dr. O’Brien, would create a question of fact on this issue.
With respect to Division 2, I dissent in part because in this instance, public policy13 prohibits Bruscato from recovering for damages arising out of the death of his mother for the reasons set forth in Division 2 of Presiding Judge Andrews’s dissent. There is no dispute that Bruscato killed his mother. On May 1, 2003, Bruscato pleaded that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial, and the trial court entered a consent order finding him mentally incompetent to stand trial. As pointed out in Presiding Judge Andrews’s dissent, Bruscato’s defense of mental incompetence “admits the doing of the act charged.”14
*463Further, Bruscato admitted in his complaint that because “he was psychotic, out of touch with reality, and had severely diminished impulse control on August 15, 2002, “when [his] mother ... attempted to discipline [him] by withholding privileges . . .[, Bruscato] picked up a battery charger and smashed his mother in the head and then stabbed her over 70 times with a knife,” resulting in her death.15 When questioned by the arresting officers, Bruscato admitted that he initially hid the knife he used to stab his mother, and he also admitted to killing her, stating that he knew it was wrong, but that the devil had told him to do it. Bruscato also asked “if a doctor had taken him off medication, and the act of taking him off the medication had made him violent, would the doctor or the person who committed the violent act[ ] be responsible for that act.” Under these facts, it is not necessary to further establish Bruscato’s responsibility for the death of his mother in order to preclude his recovery for his mother’s death. In this tort action, there is no and will never be any dispute that Bruscato killed his mother.
As set forth in Bruscato’s complaint, however, his damages include “suffering through a psychotic break with reality caused by Dr. O’Brien withdrawing [Bruscato]’s anti-psychotic medication.” These damages are not limited to the time period prior to Bruscato’s attack on his mother and do not necessarily flow from the act of killing his mother. Thus, our determination — that public policy bars Bruscato’s recovery as to any damages that flow from his act of killing his mother — would not bar his recovery for those damages, if any, that are not attributable to that act, regardless of timing. Nevertheless, the trial court’s grant of summary judgment as to his claim seeking to recover for the damages arising from his act of killing his mother was appropriate and should be affirmed.
I am authorized to state that Judge Johnson joins in this opinion.

 Cf. OCGA § 53-1-5 (a) (“An individual who feloniously and intentionally kills or conspires to kill or procures the killing of another individual forfeits the right to take an interest from the decedent’s estate and to serve as a personal representative or trustee of the decedent’s estate or any trust created by the decedent.”); OCGA § 17-14-31 (addressing distribution of profits received as a result of the commission of a crime).

 (Punctuation omitted.) Brown v. State, 267 Ga. 350, 351 (2) (478 SE2d 129) (1996) (“An affirmative defense is a defense that admits the doing of the act charged but seeks to justify, excuse or mitigate it.”). See also Kelley v. State, 235 Ga. App. 177, 179 (1) (509 SE2d 110) (1998) (“A plea of not guilty by reason of insanity is a plea of confession and avoidance — it *463admits the facts pleaded in the indictment, but avoids conviction because of the condition of insanity of the defendant at the time of the offense.”) (punctuation omitted). As Bruscato admitted in his brief in opposition to summary judgment, he ‘‘was charged with murder in his mother’s death but has been repeatedly adjudicated incompetent to stand trial.” (Emphasis supplied.)

 (Emphasis supplied.)