In re JM

• Decision Date: 25 March 1999
• Citation: 556 Pa. 63,726 A.2d 1041
• Parties: In re J.M. Appeal of County of Fayette.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

556 Pa. 63

726 A.2d 1041

In re J.M.

Appeal of County of Fayette.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 9, 1998.

Decided March 25, 1999.

J.E. Ferens, Jr., Uniontown, for County of Fayette.

Howard Ulan, Harrisburg, for Department of Public Welfare.

Etta Warman, Uniontown, for J.M.

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN and SAYLOR, JJ.

OPINION

NIGRO, Justice.

Appellant, the County of Fayette, appeals from the Superior Court's determination that the County improperly issued a warrant, pursuant to 50 P.S. § 7302 of the Mental Health Procedures Act ("MHPA"),¹ for the emergency involuntary examination of Appellee, J.M. For the reasons stated below, we reverse.

On January 11, 1996, Mr. Patrick Morrison, the Supervisor of the Emergency Service Unit of Chestnut Ridge Counseling Services, Inc. in Uniontown, Fayette County² received reports concerning the mental well being of Appellee. Specifically, Mr. Morrison received referrals from members of Appellee's family as well as local agencies, including the F.B.I. and the Attorney General's office, stating that Appellee had been calling them repeatedly. After contacting Appellee by phone, Mr. Morrison and Officer Sisler of the Uniontown Police Department went to Appellee's home.³ When Appellee came to the door, Mr. Morrison and Officer Sisler identified themselves and asked if they could speak with her. Appellee closed the blinds and locked the door. While Appellee did speak with Mr. Morrison and Officer Sisler through a screen door, Appellee refused to allow them into her home despite assurances by Mr. Morrison and Officer Sisler that they would not harm her in any way. Appellee told Mr. Morrison and Officer Sisler that she was a federally protected witness and would not speak with anyone of authority, except the F.B.I. Mr. Morrison observed that Appellee, who kept referring to Mr. Morrison as "Don" despite being told several times of Mr. Morrison's actual name, was guarded, disheveled, and had a contusion to her right eye which she refused to discuss.

Based on his observations of Appellee and the information he had received from others, Mr. Morrison completed an application for a warrant for the emergency mental health examination of Appellee pursuant to section 7302 of the MHPA ("section 7302"). The application recorded Mr. Morrison's belief that Appellee was severely mentally disabled and presented a clear and present danger to herself, and read:

[Appellee] has made many calls to law enforcement agencies, i.e. FBI, City Police, Attorney General's office, [Pittsburgh] rape hotline and many others. She is very delusional in that she feels that she is a federally protected witness. She is very paranoid and guarded. She would not allow us in the home. She was disheveled with a contusion to her right eye. She said that she would speak only to the FBI. At this time, she is clearly unable to care for herself. She would benefit from inpatient care.

In re J.M., 454 Pa.Super. 276, 281, 685 A.2d 185, 188 (1996). Stephanie Franczyk, an authorized delegate of the Fayette County Mental Health Administrator, reviewed and signed the section 7302 warrant, thereby authorizing a peace officer or a representative of the County Administrator to take Appellee to a facility for an emergency examination.

Mr. Morrison returned to Appellee's home, this time accompanied by two police officers. Again, Appellee would not let them into her home. Mr. Morrison and the officers spoke with Appellee through a closed door for approximately forty-five minutes, during which time Appellee was speaking on the phone with her sister in Connecticut. While Mr. Morrison and the officers were attempting to speak with Appellee, a dispatch came over the police radio that a call had been received from both Appellee's mother and sister which indicated that Appellee was threatening to shoot herself and her adult son who lived with her. Fearing for the safety of both Appellee and her son, the officers forcibly entered Appellee's house and found Appellee pointing a loaded gun at them. With the help of Appellee's son, Appellee was disarmed and taken into custody pursuant to section 7302 of the MHPA. She was transported to Uniontown Hospital for an emergency mental health examination.⁴

At the hospital, Dr. Cesar Noche examined Appellee. Dr. Noche determined that Appellee was severely mentally disabled, in need of mental health treatment and should be admitted pursuant to section 7302, which allows for involuntary emergency treatment for up to five days. Appellee was then transferred to Highlands Hospital where she was diagnosed by Dr. Joel Last as suffering from a delusional disorder and in need of continued treatment. A petition for extended involuntary treatment pursuant to 50 P.S. § 7303, which provides for a twenty day commitment, was filed. Following a hearing before the Fayette County Mental Health Review Officer ("MHRO"), the petition was granted. The hospital then sought a further extension pursuant to 50 P.S. § 7304, which provides for involuntary treatment for up to ninety days. Following a hearing, the MHRO certified that Appellee was in need of continued involuntary treatment and recommended that Appellee be committed to Torrance State Hospital. Judge Solomon of the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County entered an order, dated February 6, 1996, directing Appellee to undergo involuntary in-patient treatment not to exceed the ninety days allowed by 50 P.S. § 7304. Appellee filed a petition for review challenging both the section 7304 order as well as the original emergency commitment procedures, claiming that Appellant did not have sufficient grounds to issue the warrant for an emergency mental health examination.

On February 8, 1996, the trial court held a de novo hearing to consider Appellee's petition for review. The trial court denied Appellee's petition and rejected her claim that the warrant issued pursuant to section 7302 had been procedurally defective. On appeal, the Superior Court reversed. In assessing the validity of the section 7302 warrant, the Superior Court noted that the MHPA and case law provide minimal guidance regarding the standards to be used when evaluating the issuance of a warrant under section 7302. As a result, the Superior Court turned to the criminal procedural standards applicable to arrest warrants and determined that under those standards, the section 7302 warrant did not state sufficient grounds to determine that Appellee was in need of treatment. The Superior Court essentially found that because Mr. Morrison lacked the qualifications to make conclusions regarding Appellee's mental health and because he had not independently verified the information and statements given to him by others,⁵ the section 7302 warrant did not satisfy the standard of probable cause and was therefore, insufficient. Judge Hudock dissented, questioning the propriety of the majority's holding that a section 7302 warrant is to be judged by the same standard as an arrest warrant and finding that, in his view, the section 7302 warrant issued in the instant case was sufficient.

The County of Fayette filed a Petition for Allowance of Appeal. We granted allocatur to determine whether the validity of a warrant for an emergency mental health evaluation, issued pursuant to section 7302 of the MHPA, should be judged by the same standards employed in reviewing the validity of a criminal arrest warrant.⁶ Since we find that it should not, we now reverse.

Section 7302 of the MHPA governs involuntary emergency examinations and treatment, and limits such treatment to one hundred and twenty hours. Section 7302(a)(1) of the MHPA provides:

Warrant for Emergency Examination. Upon written application by a physician or other responsible party setting forth facts constituting reasonable grounds to believe that a person is severely mentally disabled and in need of immediate treatment, the county administrator may issue a warrant requiring a person authorized by him, or any peace officer, to take such person to the facility specified in the warrant.

50 P.S. § 7302(a)(1) (emphasis added).

Once a person is taken to a facility, section 7302(b) of the MHPA directs that the person shall be examined by a physician within two hours of arrival in order to determine if he is severely mentally disabled and in need of immediate treatment. 50 P.S. § 7302(b). If the examining physician determines that the person is severely mentally disabled and in need of immediate treatment, treatment shall begin immediately; if the physician does not so find, the person shall be discharged. Id. The preceding section, section 7301, defines who is subject to emergency evaluation or treatment. Section 7301(a) of the MHPA provides:

whenever a person is severely mentally disabled and in need of immediate treatment, he may be made subject to involuntary emergency examination and treatment. A person is severely mentally disabled when, as a result of mental illness, his capacity to exercise self-control, judgment and discretion in the conduct of his affairs and social relations or to care for his own personal needs is so lessened that he poses a clear and present danger of harm to others or to himself.

50 P.S. § 7301(a). Section 7301(b) then sets out guidelines for the determination of when a "clear and present danger" to self or others is present. See 50 P.S. § 7301(b)(1),(2).⁷ In the instant case, Appellant contends that the Superior Court improperly analyzed the issuance of a section 7302 warrant by the standards applicable in criminal procedure. Appellant argues that the independent verification and probable cause standard articulated by the Superior Court is unsupported by the plain language and the purposes of the MHPA. We agree.

In the first instance, the plain language of the MHPA establishes that before an involuntary emergency evaluation pursuant to a warrant under section 7302 may occur,...