Opinion ID: 317697
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Lembcke attempt to obtain Donaldson's release.

Text: 32 John H. Lembcke, a certified public accountant in Binghamton, New York, who is married and has three children, had been a classmate of Donaldson's at Syracuse University in the 1920's. On four occasions, Lembcke sought to have Donaldson released to his custody. The first was on July 3, 1964, when Lembcke informed the hospital that Donaldson was a friend of his, and inquired whether there were 'any conditions under which he would be released so that I could bring him back to New York State'. The same day the hospital received the letter, O'Connor penciled a note to Gumanis that is attached to the letter in Donaldson's hospital record. The note said: 33 This man must not be well himself to want to get involved with someone like this patient, who even the recent visiting psychologist considered dangerous-- Recommend turn it down. 34 Rich, the new Clinical Director, wrote Lembcke saying that Donaldson had 'shown no particular changes mentally', and that if released he would 'require complete supervision.' 35 The second inquiry came by letter of November 27, 1964. Again O'Connor appended a note to Gumanis that is in the hospital records. This note gave three reasons for denying Lembcke's request to have Donaldson released to him: parental consent would be required; the patient 'would not stay with party mentioned'; and 'we don't know anything about party'. Gumanis prepared a letter, dated November 27 and again signed by Dr. Rich, 'advis(ing)' Lembcke that Donaldson would 'require further hospitalization'. The reply did not mention the three reasons for the denial set out in O'Connor's note, and did not request any further information from Lembcke, even though Lembcke in his November 23 letter had offered to provide any information the hospital should request. 36 The third attempt by Lembcke began with another letter to the hospital, dated December 21, 1965. According to Lembcke's testimony, the hospital responded by saying Donaldson could be released on two conditions: (1) that Lembcke would give Donaldson 'adequate supervision' so that the release would not be detrimental to his mental health; and (2) that Lembcke would secure parental permission for Donaldson to go to New York with Lembcke. In May 1966, Lembcke went to Florida, and met with Gumanis and O'Connor. While in Florida he saw Donaldson and obtained from Donaldson's parents a letter dated May 14, 1966, giving their consent to Donaldson's being released to him. Nothing happened. In his testimony Lembcke did not explain how or why he came to abandon this 1966 effort to secure his friend's release. 37 Lembcke's final and most important effort to secure Donaldson's release began in March 1968. On March 21, the General Staff, at a meeting attended by Gumanis and Hanenson but not by O'Connor, recommended Donaldson's release on a trial visit or out-of-state discharge. On March 24, Lembcke wrote the hospital renewing his offer to take Donaldson. On March 28, the hospital responded, imposing three conditions on Donaldson's release: (1) that Lembcke be willing to come for Donaldson; (2) that he be willing to supervise Donaldson; and (3) that he be willing to take Donaldson to a psychiatrist if Donaldson needed treatment. By letter of March 31, Lembcke acceded to these conditions. On April 4, the hospital replied with a letter imposing two additional conditions: (1) a detailed statement concerning the home supervision Donaldson would be given; and (2) written authorization for the release from Donaldson's parents. Lembcke wrote back giving the hospital the information about home supervision it had requested. The hospital replied by again saying it would be necessary to obtain the written consent of Donaldson's parents. 38 On September 18, 1968, Lembcke wrote the hospital, enclosing a photocopy of the notarized written permission Donaldson's parents had signed May 14, 1966. The hospital responded in a letter dated September 24, signed by Dr. Rich. The letter informed Lembcke that Donaldson had been mentally ill for many years, that he 'still express(ed) delusional thinking' and that 'it would not be fair to you or to him to release him from the hospital at this time without adequate planning'. The letter added, in its final paragraph, that it would be necessary for the hospital to have more recent authorization from Donaldson's nearest relative than the one Lembcke had proffered. At that point, Lembcke gave up; whenever he met the conditions imposed by the hospital officials, new conditions were imposed. As he put it, 'after requirements were met, requirements were increased'. 39 One other facet of Lembcke's last attempt to secure Donaldson's release bears mention. As noted, O'connor did not attend the Staff Conference which had recommended Donaldson's release March 21. O'Connor first learned of the hospital's recommendation in June, when Donaldson wrote to the Division Director of the hospital concerning the effort being made to release him. The division director forwarded the letter to O'Connor, who in turn forwarded it to Hanenson, asking for information concerning the proposed release. Hanenson responded with a memorandum dated June 17. Across the bottom of this memborandum, O'Connor pencilled in the remark, 'the record will show, I believe, we have been through this before and decided Mr. Lembcke would not properly supervise the patient'. It was not clear when O'Connor supposed this 'decision' to have been made, and in his deposition O'Connor was unable to locate any record of it in the hospital record. Moreover, there were suggestions in the record that Dr. O'Connor's conduct, in this and other respects, was influenced by his knowledge of Donaldson's history of writing letters to the press and to outside officials. From all of this evidence, the jury would have been justified in concluding that the frustration of Lembcke's effort to secure Donaldson's release in 1968 was entirely or primarily the result of O'Connor's bad faith intervention or, at the least, that the intervention was in reckless disregard of Donaldson's rights. 40 D. The defendants continued to confine Donaldson knowing he was not dangerous, or with reckless disregard for whether he was dangerous. 41 Three of the plaintiff's expert witnessess-- Fox, Raymond D. Fowler, Jr., Chairman of the Psychology Department at the University of Alabama and former President of both the Alabama and Southern Psychological Associations, and Julian Davis, Director of the Psychology Department at the Florida State Hospital-- testified that they did not believe Donaldson was dangerous. Fox's and Fowler's opinions were based upon the hospital records, Donaldson's pyschological reports, Donaldson's past history, and raw data from his physchological examinations. Lembcke testified that in his half century of having known Donaldson, he had never known Donaldson to be 'violent', 'aggressive', or 'belligerent'; that, on the contrary, he knew Donaldson to be a 'gentle' man. Dr. Walls testified that he did not believe Donaldson was physically dangerous; Gumanis himself conceded that he did not think Donaldson dangerous while Donaldson was in the hospital, although he said he could not predict what Donaldson would be like outside the hospital. There was no evidence in the record of Donaldson's ever having been violent in any way. 42 On the basis of this testimony the jury would have been justified in finding that Donaldson was non-dangerous, and in inferring that the defendants knew him to be so. 43 E. The defendants did not do the best they could with available resources. 44 As they did in the district court, the defendants on appeal pitch their defense in substantial part on their contention that they did the best they could with limited resources available to the state psychiatric hospital. Donaldson rebuts this contention, first, by pointing out the contrast between the treatment he received from the defendants and that he received from Hanenson. Hanenson allowed him grounds privileges and occupational therapy, spoke with him frequently, and within a year of taking charge of his case arranged a staff conference that recommended his release. Second, he relies on the testimony of Fox and the other experts to the effect that Gumanis and O'Connor failed to take steps that would have been open to them to take, even given the admittedly stark limitations on the resources available to them. We agree that these two considerations were a sufficient basis for the jury to reject the defendants' defense that they did the best they could with available resources. 45 We turn now to the novel and important question whether civilly committed mental patients have a constitutional right to treatment.