Peterson, Matter of
| Decision Date | 11 January 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. C9-83-447,C9-83-447 |
| Citation | 360 N.W.2d 333 |
| Parties | In the Matter of Rita PETERSON. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
In proceedings to revoke a provisional discharge from commitment within 60 days of its issuance, brief rehospitalization without a prior hearing is authorized provided that within 48 hours of the rehospitalization, the head of the facility provides the court with an affidavit detailing the patient's recent actions and the reasons for the return. The patient and his counsel must be provided with a copy of the affidavit within the same 48-hour period. Thereafter, the trial court shall then determine the propriety of the rehospitalization.
Thomas Bennett Wilson, III, Gayle Gaumer, Edina, for appellant.
Thomas L. Johnson, Henn. Co. Atty., John R. Owen, Asst. Co. Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent.
Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.
Rita Peterson challenges an order of the district court denying her motion to dismiss the revocation of her provisional discharge from commitment. We affirm.
The patient was committed to the Anoka State Hospital in June 1982 suffering from a psychiatric disorder. Later that month, the commitment order was amended to effect the transfer of her custody to the University of Minnesota Hospital where she remained until her first provisional discharge to Hoikka House in October 1982. She was readmitted to the University Hospital later that same month and then provisionally discharged again, on this occasion to her own apartment, on October 18, 1982.
In discharging the patient, the hospital imposed two specific conditions: the patient was required to continue to take prescribed medications and to keep scheduled out-patient appointments. Her physician, Dr. Elke Eckert, later indicated that the conditions had been explained and discussed with Peterson many times before her release. A third condition of release, identified in an October 1982 letter from a staff physician to the court, was that "there be no obvious signs of deterioration of her mental status."
Shortly after Peterson's second provisional discharge, the University Hospital received telephone information from Winona Hospital during which the caller stated that Ms. Peterson had been found in the middle of the night lying beneath an automobile, incontinent, removing her clothing, complaining that someone had implanted an object in her head and otherwise acting "bizarrely." The caller, never specifically identified, indicated that Winona Hospital requested that Peterson be transferred to the University.
Unsure of the procedure to effect the transfer, Dr. Eckert contacted the probate court and subsequently detailed in a letter the conditions of Peterson's discharge, the physician's understanding that the patient no longer satisfied those conditions and the request that the patient be referred to the University Hospital. The court responded to the letter with the issuance of an order for apprehension and return to the hospital for revocation of the provisional discharge. The patient's attorney was not notified of Dr. Eckert's request for return or the court's order. Nothing in the record indicates that Peterson objected to the transfer.
On November 16, 1982, the county attorney moved to amend the commitment order to facilitate Peterson's return to the Anoka State Hospital. Peterson's counsel received notice of the hearing, appeared on her behalf and cross-examined Dr. Eckert regarding the telephone call from the Winona Hospital, the conditions of the provisional discharge and the grounds upon which revocation and return were sought. At the close of the hearing, counsel orally moved the court to dismiss the provisional discharge revocation proceedings upon the basis that the requirements of Minn.Stat Sec. 253B.15, subd. 2 (1982) had not been satisfied.
The trial court denied the motion, finding that revocation was permissible under section 253B.15, subd. 2(ii) because the patient's safety was jeopardized. Peterson renewed her motion, contending that the revocation was based upon inadmissible evidence and denied her due process. The second motion was also denied and this appeal followed. During the pendency of these appellate proceedings, Peterson was discharged from commitment; we declined to dismiss the appeal as moot, concluding that the issues were "capable of repetition yet evading review." Southern Pacific Terminal Co. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 219 U.S. 498, 515, 31 S.Ct. 279, 283, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911).
1. This appeal prompts us to delineate the procedures to be followed when a provisional discharge...
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