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6 Dev. Mental Health L. 1 (1986)

handle is hein.journals/dvmnhlt6 and id is 1 raw text is: A Quarterly Publication of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry & Public Policy at the University of Virginia Developments in Mental Health Law L BOX 100, Blue Ridge Hospital, Charlottesville, VA 22901 (804) 924-5435 Vol. 6, Nos. 1-2 January-June 1986 Ruling could lead to new programs for mentally disabled Fourth Circuit discovers right to treatment by Willis J. Spaulding A mentally disabled client of a community mental health pro- gram has a constitutional right to appropriate services, even if that means creating new and costly programs for that client. This important ruling is now the law in the states within the jurisdiction of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. On January 9, 1986, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the order of a federal District Court in North Carolina, requiring the state to transfer its former patient from an in- appropriate commmunity placement to a stable suitable supervised com- munity residential placement such as (1) a non-institutional specialized adult foster care situation ... or (2) a group home with adults of average intelligence, and provide him with an array of non-residential services such as counseling, adult education and vocational training. Youngberg v. Romeo applied to community placement In Thomas S. v. Morrow, 1 the Fourth Circuit relied on the 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Youngberg v. Romeo2, a case involving a resident of Pennsylvania's Pennhurst State School. In Youngberg the Supreme Court discovered in the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause substantive rights to food, clothing, shelter, safety, freedom from undue restraint, and treatment that was suffi- cient to protect the resident's rights to safety and freedom from undue re- straint. The resident in Youngberg, Nicholas Romeo, had been placed in mechanical restraints for long periods of time, and had been injured by his own actions and by other residents of Pennhurst on numerous occasions. The members of the Court agreed that the Constitution gave him a right to enough treatment to prevent the undue use of mechanical restraints and to prevent an unreasonable risk of injury. In Thomas S. the Fourth Circuit said that the plaintiff, who neither had been placed in mechanical restraints nor had suffered any physical injury, possessed the same constitutional right to treatment. The fact that Thomas S. had been discharged from the state hospital during the pen- dency of the litigation and was living in the community did not diminish the importance of his liberty interest in freedom from undue restriction. The restrictions imposed on Thomas S. consisted neither of mechanical restraints, nor even involuntary hospitalization, but of the appoint- ment of a guardian with the power to select the ward's domicile and in the nature of the treatment provided by the state. These were the state- imposed restrictions which gave Thomas S. a right to sufficient treat- ment from the state to reduce the restrictions to a reasonable level in. light of the circumstances of his case. Thomas S. became a ward of the state at birth in 1963. At age eighteen he was adjudicated incompetent and a guardian was appointed for him. By the time of the District Court decision he had lived in forty different Continued on page 2 Also in this issue 1986 General Assembly review .............. 4 Forensic evaluation revisions ............... 6 Jail to hospital transfers ................... 7 Spring forensic symposium ................. 8 In the Virginia Supreme Court .............. 18 k

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