Opinion ID: 1709968
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mental Incapacity Resulting From Opiates

Text: The Appellant-attending physician testified with reference to the morning of the execution of the will as follows: I say I don't know what effect the opiates had on her that particular morning. I just didn't observe her from that particular standpoint. Dr. Izlar on cross-examination analyzed the effect of opiates administered to the testatrix as follows: A. Well, I think that an individual who has been taking demerol for that long a period of time, whether they have taken a dose at this hour or two hours later, the effect of the narcotic influences their mental decisions. Q. You say you think it does? A. I do. Q. During the time that one is under the influence of demerol is it impossible to awake one from the stupor and for that person to exercise any willpower? A. Well, you can wake them from a stupor. In fact, a lot people who take demerol in doses like this won't go to sleep. They might doze off, but you certainly wouldn't call them in a stuporous state. Q. Well then, would you say that those people who may be wakeful are unable to transact any business and do not know the full effects of their decisions? A. That is my opinion, due to the effects of the medication. Further describing the effect of narcotics, Dr. Izlar gave the following opinion: Any individual who takes that amount (of narcotics), regardless of who he might be, over a period of that length of time would have a certain addiction for it. The addiction varies due to the amount of drug the individual has. Some of them take tremendous doses. But with that history an individual would be addicted to some extent from it. Their thinking and reasoning at that time is influenced by the narcotic, in that it gives them a state of euphoria, or well-being; and that influences their judgment and reasoning. In analysis of her physical state, as outlined by this question, there are several points that you would have to consider. One is that there was a disturbance in her fluid balance and that she had a water retention. With that she had a decrease in kidney function in which you get nitrogen retention. Both of those give rise to a state of mental confusion in which a patient's recent memory is impaired.          Therefore, it is my opinion, based on that assumption, that an individual that had taken this narcotic and was in that physical state was not competent from a mental standpoint. (Parenthesis ours.) Dr. Kaufman testified that it was his opinion that Marie A. Baldridge was mentally incapacitated to execute a will on the morning of November 19, 1951, as a result of the drugs constantly administered to her during her last illness.