G.S., Matter of

• Decision Date: 08 April 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-487,84-487
• Citation: 698 P.2d 406,215 Mont. 384,42 St.Rep. 451
• Parties: In the Matter of the Mental Health of G.S.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 406

698 P.2d 406

215 Mont. 384

In the Matter of the Mental Health of G.S.

No. 84-487.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs Feb. 14, 1985.

Decided April 8, 1985.

McAllister & Smith, Great Falls, for appellant.

J. Fred Bourdeau, County Atty., Great Falls, Barbara Claassen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Helena, for respondent.

TURNAGE, Chief Justice.

G.S. appeals an order of the Cascade County District Court finding him seriously mentally ill. G.S. was committed to three months hospitalization in the Warm Springs State Hospital.

The Cascade County Attorney filed a petition for involuntary commitment on July 30, 1984. The petition was filed at the request of D.S., the father of appellant. The initial hearing on probable cause to commit was held July 31, 1984.

At this hearing testimony was received that G.S. had suffered a relapse of previous mental illness in the several weeks preceding the filing of the petition. The appellant had been observed by his father, with whom he was living, to be digging numerous holes in the backyard. Apparently, the appellant was attempting to find something of value that he had buried previously. Additionally, the appellant had become more violent. At one point G.S. threatened to take his father's head off with an iron bar that he raised menacingly. On July 25, 1984, the appellant engaged his father in a struggle in a bedroom of their home. There was no apparent provocation for the fight, and the father received some minor cuts in defending himself and subduing his son.

At the initial hearing, in accordance with Sec. 53-21-122, MCA, the court appointed an individual to be the friend of G.S., appointed counsel and named Dr. James Day to be the professional person to examine G.S. The commitment hearing was set for August 7, 1984.

The problem in this commitment proceeding and the focus of the present appeal developed when the deputy county attorney informed the court at the initial hearing that Dr. Day would be out of town during the August 7 hearing. The attorney proposed that the court appoint two psychiatrists as the statutorily required "professional person" such that Dr. Day could conduct the examination and the second psychiatrist, Dr. Hughes, could be present at the August 7 commitment hearing to testify on G.S.'s condition. The court assented to this proposal and both doctors were appointed as the professional person.

Appellant's counsel did not object to the tandem appointment but requested that G.S. be allowed to retain his own psychiatrist to testify on his mental condition. The court granted this request, but appellant's efforts were later frustrated when the third psychiatrist refused to appear on behalf of appellant.

Dr. Day initially committed appellant to Deaconess Hospital on July 30, 1984. G.S. was placed in the security unit and was observed on a daily basis by Dr. Day. Observational notes were recorded and later submitted to the court. Dr. Hughes assumed Dr. Day's caseload, including G.S., on August 3, 1984.

Before Dr. Hughes had an opportunity to perform a formal psychiatric evaluation, G.S. escaped from the hospital on August 5. The doctor had met briefly with appellant the day before, but the patient was unwilling to submit to an examination. Both appointed psychiatrists in this case were viewed by G.S. as "agents of the prosecution."

Dr. Day and Dr. Hughes separately filed psychiatric reports containing a diagnosis of appellant's mental condition with the District Court. These reports were based on their personal observations of G.S. during his hospitalization, their brief conversations, and the patient's past medical history. G.S. had previously been under the care of both doctors.

The commitment hearing was held as scheduled August 7. The appellant was present, as he had been returned to custody following his escape. D.S. testified on the violent and dangerous behavior of his son. Dr. Hughes, over the objection of appellant's counsel, testified that G.S. suffered from an acute exacerbation of a bipolar disorder, manic type. This diagnosis is a form of schizo-affective schizophrenia. In the words of Dr. Hughes, the diagnosis was based "upon my knowledge of Dr. Day's abilities, and my knowledge of [G.S.'s] past history, and in reviewing Dr. Day's report, and from visiting with [G.S.] on the morning of August the 4th ..."

The lower court found that G.S. was suffering from a mental disorder and the mental disorder presented an imminent threat of injury to others, particularly his father. In an order dated August 7, the appellant was committed to Warm Springs State Hospital.

The arguments appellant presents are best framed as two issues:

1. Whether the court erred in an involuntary commitment proceeding by allowing a professional person to offer an opinion on the subject's mental condition, when the doctor did not formally examine the patient but relied on another doctor's report who was not present at the hearing.

2. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support the court's finding that the appellant was seriously mentally ill.

Appellant's contentions focus on the language and proper interpretation of one code section, Sec. 53-21-126, MCA. This section sets forth the procedures to be followed at a trial on a petition for commitment. As the statute explains, its purpose is limited to the determination of whether the respondent (person requested to be committed) is seriously mentally ill. The underlying definition of seriously mentally ill is whether the person is suffering from a mental disorder which has resulted in self-inflicted injury or injury to others or the imminent threat thereof. Section 53-21-102(14), MCA.

The code provision at issue, Sec. 53-21-126(3), MCA, provides that the professional person appointed by the court shall be present at the trial and subject to cross-examination. Here, we have an unusual factual situation where two doctors were appointed, their examination responsibilities were shared, the patient escaped before a formal examination was completed and one doctor testified at trial relying on the other's report.

We find no impropriety in the arrangement whereby two doctors were appointed by the court such that one could testify on the patient's mental condition in the other's absence. This situation is not addressed by the statute and has not been judicially recognized in Montana. Of critical importance is that the doctor who did ultimately diagnose G.S.'s mental condition was available for cross-examination at the commitment hearing. Since appellant's attorney was given the opportunity to question Dr. Hughes and test the validity of his diagnosis we find no derogation of the statute's intent.

Appellant reads Sec. 53-21-126(3), MCA, to mean any professional person appointed by the court shall be present at the trial and subject to cross-examination. Were this the language of the statute we would resolve the issue differently. Since the statute reads the professional person appointed, we accept the arrangement presented as permissible and...