In re Mental Health of O.R.B.

• Decision Date: 20 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. DA 07-0338.,DA 07-0338.
• Citation: 191 P.3d 482,2008 MT 301
• Parties: In the Matter of the MENTAL HEALTH OF O.R.B., Respondent and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

191 P.3d 482

2008 MT 301

In the Matter of the MENTAL HEALTH OF O.R.B., Respondent and Appellant.

No. DA 07-0338.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs April 9, 2008.

Decided August 20, 2008.

For Appellant: Jim Wheelis, Chief Appellate Defender, Roberta R. Zenker, Assistant Appellate Defender; Helena, Montana.

For Appellee: Hon. Mike McGrath, Montana Attorney General, Michael S. Wellenstein, Assistant Attorney General; Helena, Montana, Larry D. Epstein, Glacier County Attorney; Cut Bank, Montana.

Justice JIM RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Appellant, O.R.B. appeals from the order of the Ninth Judicial District Court, Glacier County, committing her to the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs. We affirm.

¶ 2 We consider the following issues on appeal:

¶ 3 1. Did the District Court err by failing to secure an appointed "friend" for O.R.B.?

¶ 4 2. Did the District Court make a sufficiently detailed statement of facts to support its findings as required by § 53-21-127(8)(a), MCA?

¶ 5 3. Are the District Court's findings of fact numbered 14 and 17 clearly erroneous?

¶ 6 4. Does the omission of recommendations in the professional person's written report constitute reversible error?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 7 On April 27, 2007, the Glacier County Attorney filed a petition alleging that O.R.B. suffered from a mental disorder requiring commitment, specifically "Schizophrenia" and "suicidal ideations." Filed with the petition was a report by Karen Baumann from the Center for Mental Health, stating that O.R.B. appeared delusional and often had "audio hallucinations." At the probable cause hearing, Dr. Randy Webb, M.D., of the Northern Rockies Medical Center, explained that O.R.B. had fractured her ankle in February and refused an evaluation by the orthopedic surgeon. She was instructed then not to bear weight on the leg, but when she had visited the hospital she had walked through snow and the cast was wet. Dr. Webb testified that O.R.B. "wasn't taking proper care of her leg, and that's why she was admitted to the hospital." Dr. Webb stated that O.R.B. appeared malnourished and that she was "not taking care of herself and seeing to her medical issues ... as a result of her current mental status" and needed "in-patient treatment." Dr. Webb opined that O.R.B.'s neglect to her leg could become "life-threatening." His testimony included evidence of suicidal ideation by O.R.B. Dr. Webb read from O.R.B.'s chart:

On 4-19-07, the patient refused to take the evening dose of her medication. She stated to the nurse: "It is not for brain concussion. I can't stop the beating, pulsing in head." When relaxed [O.R.B.] became really upset and in a raised voice said: "I'll not leave in this condition, I'll kill myself in this condition." [O.R.B.] was pounding on her forehead and had her hands to her throat and yelling: "Cut throat, cut throat." [Grammar and punctuation changes omitted.]

The court determined that there was probable cause, pursuant to § 53-21-124, MCA, for the filing of the petition and that an emergency existed requiring O.R.B.'s detention for her protection. The District Court appointed Virginia Villemez as a friend for O.R.B. and ordered Dr. Webb to complete a mental status examination of O.R.B. and provide the court with a written report.

¶ 8 A commitment hearing was held May 4, 2007. A friend for O.R.B. did not appear and the County Attorney explained that there was a problem securing a friend for O.R.B. because "those who have tried to assist her and help her have been accused of various acts against her person, and no one in the community, unfortunately for the community and the Respondent, has been willing to continue to assist her[.]"

¶ 9 Dr. Webb testified at the commitment hearing that during his "interview with [O.R.B. he] had found that she displayed delusional thoughts and paranoid thinking. She had a flit of ideas and disorganized thoughts, and did not appear to be in touch with reality." Dr. Webb also stated that O.R.B. "has a very delusional scheme that people are transmitting some type of ultrasonic waves through her home that's causing problems with her brain. [O.R.B.] described it as a brain concussion."

¶ 10 Dr. Webb also testified about O.R.B.'s living situation, saying "[s]he is living without heat in Cut Bank, Montana; she is living without proper sanitary facilities, without proper food and nutrition, and I think she is at risk for developing a physical illness that will cause her to have a shortened life span." Pertinent to O.R.B.'s living situation was Cut Bank Chief of Police, Jason Abbott's testimony. Officer Abbot stated:

I have been to a lot of houses, and this house was absolutely the worst house I have ever been to. All the cupboard doors were taken off, the floor was completely covered in papers, legal papers and newspapers, and there was garbage covering the entire kitchen floor and there was absolutely no where to walk; and there was no heat, this was in winter, and there was no heat in the house.

....

There were chicken bones mixed in with the papers all over the kitchen floor.

....

It was a foul smell. The smell of — a body smell and garbage smell.

Also pertinent to O.R.B.'s welfare, Dr. Webb discussed O.R.B.'s nutrition, describing O.R.B. as anorexic, explaining that "she's not eating, she's thin, and has decreased the amount of muscle and fat tissue in her body. She has very poor dentition. Her teeth are decayed and have not been properly maintained." It was Dr. Webb's medical opinion that with psychiatric assistance and proper medication, O.R.B. could eventually positively function within the community.

¶ 11 Dr. Charles Ellis, a psychiatrist at the Montana State Hospital also testified at the commitment hearing. It was Dr. Ellis' diagnosis that O.R.B. suffers from "paranoid schizophrenia." He stated that:

[W]ithout psychiatric treatment [O.R.B. is] not going to agree to proper medical care, and if we don't clear up her paranoia then she's going to do herself a lot of damage, especially when she's already broken her ankle and not taking proper care of it, and the longer we let her go in this state the worse she's going to be physically. And the other thing with schizophrenia, the longer you leave it untreated the longer it damages the brain and the longer it takes to get a person back to normal functioning, so the longer we leave her like this, the more of a dis-service we're doing to her.

Dr. Ellis opined that O.R.B. was putting herself in "imminent danger." O.R.B., however, testified that she did not have a mental illness but rather her neighbors "pulse pressure to [her] house" and "damaged [her] brain[.]"

¶ 12 Concluding the hearing, the District Court made detailed oral findings of fact, discussed below, and ultimately concluded that O.R.B. "suffers from the mental disorder of psychosis, with paranoid delusions." The court concluded that because of O.R.B.'s mental disorder, O.R.B. was "not able to provide for her own basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, health or safety, and that without treatment she's in imminent danger of self-injury...." A dispositional hearing was set for May 9, 2007.

¶ 13 At the dispositional hearing, the District Court incorporated its prior findings made at the commitment hearing and committed O.R.B. to the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs for a period of not more than ninety days. The court noted that "[b]ased on Dr. Webb's testimony, as well as Dr. Ellis', there [were] no alternatives for treatment other than the State Hospital." The District Court entered its written findings of fact on May 9, 2007. Pertinent to this appeal are the following findings:

14. The Respondent's conditions are such that she is an imminent danger to herself.

....

17. The Court finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the Respondent is a danger to herself and it [sic] not able to provide for her own food, clothing, health, and welfare.

O.R.B. appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 14 In an involuntary commitment case we review a district court's findings of fact to determine whether, upon viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, the findings are clearly erroneous. In re G.M., 2007 MT 100, ¶ 12, 337 Mont. 116, ¶ 12, 157 P.3d 687, ¶ 12. We exercise de novo review when deciding questions of law such as whether the district court correctly interpreted and applied relevant statutes. In re Mental Health of E.P.B., 2007 MT 224, ¶ 5, 339 Mont. 107, ¶ 5, 168 P.3d 662, ¶ 5.

DISCUSSION

¶ 15 1. Did the District Court err by failing to secure an appointed "friend" for O.R.B.?

¶ 16 O.R.B. contends that the District Court erred by failing to appoint a "friend" to assist her during the involuntary mental health commitment proceedings as required by § 53-21-122(2), MCA. O.R.B. argues that "strict compliance with involuntary mental health commitment statutes" is required, making reversal appropriate because the court did not secure a friend for her. The State asserts that the court initially appointed a friend but that it became apparent that no one was willing to serve as friend for O.R.B. due to her conduct. The State argues that O.R.B.'s conduct resulted in the court's inability to secure her a friend and she cannot now "take advantage of the fact that no one in the community was willing to assist her due to her psychosis and behavior."

¶ 17 Pursuant to § 53-21-122(2), MCA, upon a petition for commitment, "[t]he judge shall appoint a professional person and a friend of respondent and set a date and time for the hearing on the petition...." Section 53-21-102(8), MCA, defines "friend of respondent" as "any person willing and able to assist a person suffering from a mental disorder and requiring commitment...." (Emphasis added.) Here, at the probable cause hearing the District Court appointed Virginia Villemez as friend for O.R.B. However, at the commitment hearing it was disclosed that there...