N.C.P.I.—Crim. 242.20

NOTE WELL: The injury required is serious bodily

injury. A “pattern of patient abuse” (N.C.P.I. 242.25)

does not require that the injury be serious bodily injury

only that there be bodily injury. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-

32.2(a)-(b)(4).

The defendant has been charged with [willful] [culpably negligent]

physical abuse of a [patient of a health care 1] [resident of a residential

care2] facility resulting in serious bodily injury.

For you to find the defendant guilty of this offense, the State must

prove four things beyond a reasonable doubt:

First, that the victim was a [patient of a health care] [resident of a

residential care] facility.

Second, that the defendant physically abused3 the [patient]

[resident] by (describe the physical abuse).

Third, that the defendant’s conduct was [willful] [culpably

negligent]. (Culpable negligence is conduct of a willful, gross and

flagrant character, evincing reckless disregard for human life.4)

And Fourth, that the defendant’s conduct proximately caused

serious bodily injury to the [patient] [resident]. Proximate cause is a real

cause, a cause without which the victim’s serious bodily injury would not

have occurred.

Serious bodily injury is defined as bodily injury that creates or

causes [a substantial risk of death] [serious permanent disfigurement]

[coma] [a permanent or protracted condition that causes extreme pain]

[permanent or protracted loss or impairment of the functions of any

bodily member or organ] [prolonged hospitalization].

If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or

about the alleged date, the victim was a [patient of a health care]

[resident of a residential care] facility, the defendant physically abused

the [patient] [resident], the defendant’s conduct was [willful] [culpably

negligent] and the defendant’s conduct proximately caused serious bodily

injury to the [patient] [resident], it would be your duty to return a verdict

of guilty. If you do not so find or have a reasonable doubt as to one or

more of these things, it would be your duty to return a verdict of not

guilty.