Com. ex rel. Platt v. Platt

• Decision Date: 22 August 1979
• Citation: 266 Pa.Super. 276,404 A.2d 410
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH ex rel., Dale PLATT v. Janet L. PLATT, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 410

404 A.2d 410

266 Pa.Super. 276

COMMONWEALTH ex rel., Dale PLATT v. Janet L. PLATT, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Dec. 4, 1978.

Decided May 18, 1979.

Reargument Denied Aug. 22, 1979.

Deborah H. Thomson, Lancaster, for appellant.

William E. Chillas, Lancaster, for appellee.

Before PRICE, SPAETH and WATKINS, JJ.

WATKINS, Judge.

This case comes to us on appeal from the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County, Civil Division, and involves appellant's claim that the court below improperly committed her to a hospital for involuntary emergency psychiatric treatment.

On June 3, 1978, the appellant was committed to the Psychiatric Ward of St. Joseph's Hospital in Lancaster for emergency involuntary treatment, pursuant to a petition filed by appellant's husband. On June 7, 1978, a hearing was held before a mental health review officer pursuant to 50 P.S. 7303, a section of the "Mental Health Procedures Act of July 9, 1976" which Act became effective September 9, 1976. Said Section provides for an informal hearing at which the person who is alleged to be in need of psychiatric treatment is afforded an attorney and which hearing is conducted by a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas or a mental health review officer. At the conclusion of the informal hearing the judge or review officer must make a finding as to whether the person is in need of continued involuntary treatment and if he finds that such treatment is needed he must so certify. Under this section the person may be involuntarily committed until he is no longer "severely mentally disabled or in need of treatment and in any event the person can be committed for no longer than twenty (20) days unless the court orders a longer commitment pursuant to 50 P.S. 7302 or 50 P.S. 7304 ". 50 P.S. 7304(h) After the June 17, 1978, informal hearing the mental health review officer who heard the testimony issued a certification for extended involuntary treatment for a period of twenty (20) days, the maximum period provided for in the Act. Appellant then appealed to the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas for review of the certification pursuant to 50 P.S. 7303(g) which provides for a review of any certification issued by a mental health officer by a judge. On June 12, 1978 Judge Anthony Appel of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County held a hearing and affirmed the certification. On June 13, 1978, appellant filed an appeal to our Court and filed an Application for Stay Pending Appeal on June 14, 1978 with the Lancaster County Court which was immediately denied. A similar Application was denied by this Court on June 26, 1978 by Judge Hoffman.

Appellant raises three issues on appeal, First, she contends that the testimony adduced at the informal hearings was insufficient so as to enable the review officer or the court to order her commitment. Second, she argues that the testimony of her physician at the informal hearing should have been barred as incompetent due to the physician-patient relationship. She also argues that the testimony of her husband at the informal hearing should have been barred due to the principle of inter-spousal immunity.

Taking the last issue first we recognize the principle of inter-spousal immunity, as set forth in 28 P.S. 316 and 28 P.S. 317, renders incompetent the testimony of one spouse against the other in either civil or criminal proceedings. More specifically 28 P.S. 316 prohibits a spouse from testifying as to "confidential communications" made by one spouse to the other, unless the privilege be waived upon the trial and 28 P.S. § 317 renders one spouse incompetent to testify "against the other" except in certain clearly defined situations such as divorce cases, spouse abuse actions, feme sole trader actions, and criminal actions brought by one spouse against the other for injury to the spouse or children of the spouse who instituted the charges. The public policy sought to be enhanced by the privilege is the preservation of marital harmony and the resultant benefits to society from that harmony. Hunter v. Hunter, 169 Pa.Super. 498, 83 A.2d 401 (1951). The issue therefore, is whether allowing a spouse to testify at a mental health hearing relative to the condition of his/her spouse constitutes a violation of the above principles. The answer is that it does not.

A spouse who testifies at a mental health hearing relative to his/her spouse's mental condition is not testifying "against" her. Assuming that he is acting in good faith the very purpose of his testimony is not to do something adverse to his wife but to help her obtain the help that she needs. While the spouse who needs the help may feel that the other spouse is "against" her/him this does not make it so. It is well known that the people suffering from the most severe mental problems are the last ones to admit that they have problems in that regard and that the first step to overcoming such a problem is to recognize it as a problem. Therefore, a husband or wife who seeks psychiatric help for his/her spouse is no more acting "against" the other spouse than is a parent who insists that his child see a doctor or dentist even though the child deplores such needed treatment. Neither the child nor the person with mental problems understands what is in his best interest.

Of course, if a spouse is acting in bad faith in seeking a commitment of the other spouse he would be subject to the various criminal and civil penalties or sanctions for which the law provides. However, because it might be possible for one spouse to act in bad faith in attempting to get the other spouse committed for mental treatment does not compel us to presume that such is the case and to hold that therefore the petitioning spouse is in an adversary position to the other spouse. To do so would be to elevate into law a presumption that runs counter to the great weight of human experience and takes an extremely pessimistic view of human nature.

As stated above, the basic policy behind the principle of interspousal immunity is to enhance marital harmony. In a mental health proceeding the objectives of that policy are preserved by permitting one spouse to be of help to the other. And who is in a better position to observe psychiatric behaviour on the part of a husband or wife than the other spouse? Many episodes of such behaviour will be witnessed Only by the spouse and we find it difficult to believe that the Legislature meant to exclude testimony of a spouse which would assist the other spouse in obtaining the necessary psychiatric care when it adopted 28 P.S. 316 and 28 P.S. 317.

Insofar as "confidential communications" are concerned we hold that in adopting 28 P.S. 316 the Legislature did not intend to prohibit a spouse from testifying as to his wife's incoherent mutterings, ravings, or ramblings which do not constitute true communications but which are merely outward manifestations of a severely disturbed mind.

Appellant argues that in Commonwealth ex rel. Finken v. Roop, 234 Pa.Super. 155, 339 A.2d 764 (1975), this Court held that mental health hearings are adversary proceedings. Such is simply not the situation. In Roop, supra, a divided court held that the former Pennsylvania Mental Health Act was unconstitutional because it failed to provide a person with adequate due process guarantees in light of the fact that a person involuntarily committed pursuant to the Act would suffer a curtailment of individual rights. No such argument is advanced here but appellant would interpret that decision as tantamount to turning all involuntary mental health proceedings into adversary proceedings at which a spouse could not testify. As discussed above a spouse who testifies at a mental health proceeding relative to the mental condition of his wife is not automatically placed into a position "adverse" to her and in fact may very well be the strongest and most active protector of her best interests.

Likewise in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967), does not compel a different result. In that case the Court held that juveniles were to be afforded certain due process guarantees at juvenile hearings even though the hearings were termed "civil" proceedings rather than criminal ones. In the instant case there is no question that the proceeding is a civil one even though an involuntary commitment will result in constraints upon a person's freedom. This is so because its purpose is to seek a cure for the person's mental problems and to protect that person and others from the committed person. Unlike a juvenile delinquency proceeding, a violation of the law had nothing to do with commitment under the Mental Health Act. Therefore, we hold that since a spouse who seeks mental treatment for a psychotic husband or wife is not in an adversary position to that spouse, that he or she is competent to testify about the spouse's activities relative to her/his mental condition at a mental health hearing.

Appellant's second contention is that the testimony of the psychiatrist who treated the appellant should have been excluded because appellant objected to such testimony on the grounds of the physician-patient privilege. Prior to the hearing, appellant's attorney had threatened appellant's psychiatrist with civil and criminal sanctions for violating the privilege if the psychiatrist testified at the informal hearing over appellant's objections to that testimony. The physician-patient privilege arises from the Act of June 7, 1907, P.L. 462, § 1, 28 P.S. § 328 which provides:

"No person authorized to practice physics or surgery shall be allowed, in any civil case, to disclose any information which he acquired in attending the patient in a professional capacity, and which was necessary to enable him to act in that capacity, which shall tend to blacken the character of the patient, without consent of said patient except in civil cases, brought by such patient, for...