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Thursday, July 23, 2009
Ind. Decisions - COA decision from yesterday just posted
One more For Publication decision, this one from July 22nd that has just been posted:
In In the Matter of the Commitment of K.F. v. St. Vincent Hospital, an 8-page opinion, Judge Crone writes:
K.F. appeals an order granting the petition, filed by St. Vincent Hospital and Health Care Center d/b/a St. Vincent Stress Center (“St. Vincent”), for her involuntary regular commitment. K.F. asserts that there was insufficient evidence to establish that she was gravely disabled. We reverse. * * *In light of the above, we cannot say that St. Vincent presented clear and convincing evidence that K.F., as a result of mental illness, was in danger of coming to harm because she had a substantial impairment or an obvious deterioration of judgment, reasoning, or behavior resulting in the inability to function independently. While K.F. may have made some unusual decisions and/or displayed certain behaviors characteristic of a person with bipolar disorder, “her conduct presents too slender a thread to support an involuntary commitment.” Commitment of J.B. v. Midtown Mental Health Ctr., 581 N.E.2d 448, 452 (Ind. Ct. App. 1991) (reversing involuntary commitment where respondent, who was suffering from alcoholism and had been arrested for driving while intoxicated, public intoxication, and public indecency, ran away into traffic and hitchhiked to avoid her mother); see also In re Commitment of Steinberg, 821 N.E.2d 385, 389 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004) (reversing involuntary commitment where respondent went about activities of daily living while hospitalized and where he maintained an apartment with a roommate), trans. denied. Therefore, we reverse.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 23, 2009 03:49 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions