Hays, In re
| Decision Date | 06 June 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 58724,58724 |
| Citation | 80 Ill.Dec. 307,102 Ill.2d 314,465 N.E.2d 98 |
| Parties | , 80 Ill.Dec. 307 In re Robert HAYS. (The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Robert HAYS, Appellant). |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Neil Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Mark L. Rotert, Ellen M. Flaum, Asst. Attys. Gen., Chicago, Robert J. Biderman, Deputy Director, Rebecca L. White, Staff Atty., State's Attys. Appellate Service Commission, Springfield, for the State; Basil G. Greanias, State's Atty., Decatur, of counsel.
Jeff M. Plesko, Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Com'n, Carbondale, for appellee.
The circuit court of Macon County declared Robert Hays to be a person subject under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code (the Code) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-100 et seq.) to involuntary admission to a mental health facility. The appellate court reversed, with one judge dissenting (115 Ill.App.3d 686, 71 Ill.Dec. 521, 451 N.E.2d 9), and we granted the State's petition for leave to appeal under Rule 315 (87 Ill.2d R. 315).
On October 11, 1982, Robert Hays, 19 years old, voluntarily admitted himself to the psychiatric unit of Mercy Hospital in Urbana. He had been voluntarily admitted there on nine previous occasions over the preceding four years. The day following his admission, he twice refused to take medication. He threw a phone at security guards, became physically resistive, and had to be physically restrained and given medication. After being restrained, he told a nurse that he wanted to die. He later became quiet and did not cause further disturbance.
After this incident, the hospital petitioned the circuit court to have Hays declared a person subject to involuntary admission under article VI of the Code (). This was done, it was said, in order to transfer Hays to an institution with better facilities for his treatment.
On the evening following Hays' outburst, a physician executed the first certificate required under section 3-602 for an involuntary commitment (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-602). Hays was transferred that night to the Adolph Meyer Health Center in Decatur, a State facility. The next day the second certificate, which the statute requires to be executed by a psychiatrist, was prepared. At a hearing in the circuit court of Macon County, Hays was formally declared a person subject to involuntary admission.
The record shows that Hays was discharged from the Meyer facility on December 20, 1982, and though the question has not been raised by the parties, it is proper to comment on the question of mootness. We consider that review of the circuit court's action is appropriate, as the character of an involuntary commitment has been held to be of sufficient significance to permit the invoking of the "collateral consequence" exception to the mootness doctrine. In re Garcia (1978), 59 Ill.App.3d 500, 502-03, 16 Ill.Dec. 684, 375 N.E.2d 557.
The single question presented is whether a petition for involuntary commitment of a voluntarily admitted patient may properly be brought when the patient has not made a request to be discharged. The State contends that there is no prohibition in the Code against a hospital's initiating a petition for involuntary commitment against a voluntary patient. The State argues that if a private hospital could not so proceed, there would be no way to transfer an "unsuitable" patient to another facility.
The appellate court has answered the question in the negative (In re Meyer (1982), 107 Ill.App.3d 871, 63 Ill.Dec. 708, 438 N.E.2d 639; People v. Hill (1979), 72 Ill.App.3d 638, 28 Ill.Dec. 852, 391 N.E.2d 51; In re Clement (1975), 34 Ill.App.3d 574, 340 N.E.2d 217.) In Clement the court said:
"We hold that a voluntary patient under the Code has an unqualified right to request to leave a Department facility at any time. Absent such a request by the patient, the Department may not infringe on this right by the institution of commitment proceedings. Only when the voluntary patient exercises his right and submits a written notice of his desire to leave may the Department exercise its right to file a petition for involuntary commitment.
[Clement] was committed in a manner not authorized by statute. He entered the hospital as a voluntary patient, and the subsequent commitment, with its accompanying stigma, deprived him of his right to request to leave without due process." 34 Ill.App.3d 574, 577, 340 N.E.2d 217.
Article III of the Code provides for the admission and discharge of adults in mental health facilities. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-100 et seq.) An adult may be admitted "voluntarily" into a facility upon the filing of an application and the facility's acceptance of the patient as "clinically suitable." (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-400.) The application must contain a statement of the patient's right under the statute to a discharge, and the facility must orally inform him upon admission of this right. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-401.) Section 3-403 sets out this right to discharge:
Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-403.
The Code also sets out the procedure for emergency involuntary commitment. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-600 et seq.) First a petition must be brought stating that "hospitalization is necessary for the protection of such person or others from physical harm." (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, par. 3-601.) In addition, two certificates stating that involuntary commitment is necessary must be secured in order for the petition to be heard by the court. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1981, ch. 91 1/2, pars. 3-602, 3-610.) The first certificate must accompany the petition and have been executed by...
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