Opinion ID: 2994761
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fuller’s Forced Medication

Text: On August 5, 1992, Fuller was placed at MPC because he had attempted to set himself on fire and was experiencing auditory hallucinations./4 Dr. Vallabhaneni, the psychiatrist who treated Fuller at MPC, found that Fuller was suffering from a serious mental illness with a diagnosis of delusional disorder, paranoid, with a differential diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. In October 1992, Fuller was once again transferred to MPC due to paranoid delusions that he was being poisoned, presenting himself in an inappropriate fashion by remaining undressed, experiencing auditory hallucinations, and attempt (sic) to burn himself alive by putting a sheet over his head and lighting it./5 On February 18, 1993, after Fuller refused to voluntarily take psychotropic medication, Dr. Vallabhaneni wrote to the Treatment Review Committee recommending that Fuller be involuntarily medicated with psychotropic medication because Fuller was becoming very paranoid, gravely disabled, and likely to . . . pose harm to self or others. According to Dr. Vallabhaneni, the forced psychotropic medication may help [Fuller] relieve his paranoid delusions. On February 22, 1993, the Treatment Review Committee, consisting of defendants Zielinski and Dr. Vidal, met to review Dr. Vallabhaneni’s forced medication recommendation. At the February 22nd hearing, Fuller presented himself to the Committee in a very polite and appropriate fashion and challenged Dr. Vallabhaneni’s recommendation to force him to undergo psychotropic medication on the grounds that the doctor did not speak with him for more than five minutes on any one occasion and that sometimes Dr. Vallabhaneni was unable to remember Fuller’s name. Fuller further argued, incorrectly, that he had no history of violent episodes (he twice tried to kill himself by lighting himself on fire (once by putting a sheet over his head and lighting it)). Finally, Fuller explained that his opinion that Dr. Vallabhaneni was the Anti-Christ was only a religious belief and that such beliefs did not harm any one. The Committee concluded that Fuller had no insight into his mental illness nor into his need for medication. The administration of enforced medication is without doubt in the inmate’s best interests. Without the medication the inmate will continue to deteriorate. It is believed that a substantial risk exists that physical harm will be inflicted by the inmate upon himself and/or others as has been evidenced by his behavior during his psychotic episodes.