Opinion ID: 393745
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Requirement for a Hearing.

Text: 13 Involuntary commitment to a mental treatment facility implicates an important, constitutionally-protected liberty interest of the person committed.  '(A) State cannot constitutionally confine ... a nondangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself or with the help of willing and responsible family members or friends' without good cause. Schlette v. Burdick, 633 F.2d 920, 922 (9th Cir. 1980), (quoting O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563, 576, 95 S.Ct. 2486, 2494, 45 L.Ed.2d 396, 407 (1975)). 14 The state may not infringe on this protected liberty interest without complying with minimum requirements of due process. Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 491-92, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 1262-63, 63 L.Ed.2d 552, 564 (1980). As the Vitek Court summarized the law: 15 We have recognized that for the ordinary citizen, commitment to a mental hospital produces a massive curtailment of liberty, Humphrey v. Cady, 405 U.S. 504, 509 (92 S.Ct. 1048, 1052, 31 L.Ed.2d 394) (1972), and in consequence requires due process protection. Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418, 425 (99 S.Ct. 1804, 1809, 60 L.Ed.2d 323) (1979); O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563, 580 (95 S.Ct. 2486, 2496, 45 L.Ed.2d 396) (1975) (Burger, C.J., concurring). The loss of liberty produced by an involuntary commitment is more than a loss of freedom from confinement. It is indisputable that commitment to a mental hospital can engender adverse social consequences to the individual and that (w)hether we label this phenomena (sic) 'stigma' or choose to call it something else ... we recognize that it can occur and that it can have a very significant impact on the individual. Addington v. Texas, supra, (441 U.S.) at 425-426 (99 S.Ct. at 1809). See also Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 600 (99 S.Ct. 2493, 2503, 61 L.Ed.2d 101) (1979). 16 Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. at 491-92, 100 S.Ct. at 1263, 63 L.Ed.2d 564. 17 The appellants do not take issue with these basic propositions. They argue, rather, that the procedures spelled out in the LPS Act satisfy minimum constitutional requirements of due process. Appellants argue that habeas corpus review on demand adequately protects against erroneous 14-day certifications. Thus, they point out: 18 The statutory habeas corpus remedy provided by sections 5275 and 5276 guarantees a judicial hearing, with court-appointed counsel if necessary, to any person who either requests that a writ be filed or who simply indicates a desire to be released. The request may also be made by any person acting on behalf of the patient. Assistance of counsel is available for preparation of the petition. The hearing is required to be held within two judicial days after the filing of the petition. 19 The district court, however, found this procedure deficient because the heavy burden of contesting the 14-day certification rests entirely with the patient. 486 F.Supp. at 988. The person on whom this burden rested would often be under the effects of tranquilizing medication, leaving him to rely on the hospital treatment staff or other hospital employees for an explanation of his rights and for access to the superior court. Id. While some procedural safeguards did exist in the Act, its provisions for notice and explanation of a detainee's right to counsel and a habeas corpus hearing 20 (did) not assure that a person will not be certified without probable cause. The State's determination may still be unreviewed. Habeas corpus is difficult to understand. The individual may not request a hearing because of the influence of drugs or great emotional distress. 21 Conditioning a probable cause hearing on the request of the individual reverses the usual due process analysis in cases where potential deprivation is severe and the risk of error is great. It is inconceivable that a person could be arrested on criminal charges and held for up to 17 days without a hearing unless he requested it. Even in civil cases where the deprivation is of property rather than liberty, the State must initiate the hearing and justify the deprivation.... 22 The initial 72 hours of detention is justified as an emergency treatment. It is recognized that a probable cause hearing cannot be arranged immediately. This emergency commitment should continue, however, only for the length of time necessary to arrange for a hearing before a neutral party so that the existence of probable cause for detention may be determined. 23 Id. at 993. 24 Our review of the adequacy of the disputed procedures is guided by well-established precedent. As the Supreme Court noted in Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 599, 99 S.Ct. 2493, 2502, 61 L.Ed.2d 101, 116-17 (1979): 25 (O)ur prior holdings have set out a general approach for testing challenged state procedures under a due process claim. Assuming the existence of a protectible property or liberty interest, the Court has required the balancing of a number of factors: 26 First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the Government's interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail. Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 335, 96 S.Ct. 893, 903, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976), quoted in Smith v. Organization of Foster Families, 431 U.S. 816, 848-849, 97 S.Ct. 2094, 2111-2112, 53 L.Ed.2d 14 (1977). 27 Reviewing the LPS procedure in light of the first two factors, we think that the district court's concern is well-founded. The private interest of individuals committed under the LPS Act provisions is substantial, because of both the massive curtailment of liberty and the adverse social consequences resulting from commitment. Vitek, 445 U.S. at 491-92, 100 S.Ct. at 1262-63, 63 L.Ed.2d at 564. The district court found, with ample support in the record, that commitment decisions under the LPS Act were highly error-prone, especially where review of those decisions depended on the initiative and competence of the persons committed. Statistics cited by the district court showed that a substantial number of detainees who sought habeas corpus review under the existing procedures were discharged at or before the hearing. 486 F.Supp. at 989-90. Adoption of mandatory review procedures, therefore, promises to effect a reduction in erroneous certifications. 28 No matter how elaborate and accurate the habeas corpus proceedings available under the LPS Act may be once undertaken, their protection is illusory when a large segment of the protected class cannot realistically be expected to set the proceedings into motion in the first place. 7 It is the state, after all, which must ultimately justify depriving a person of a protected liberty interest by determining that good cause exists for the deprivation. Suzuki v. Yuen, 617 F.2d 173, 176-78 (9th Cir. 1980). Indeed, the irony of the appellants' argument is that the more accurate the determinations of the statutory habeas corpus proceedings may be, the more irrational it is to afford those proceedings only to those in a position to request them. 29 We feel, in sum, that the record sufficiently demonstrates that a substantial private interest a protected liberty interest is at stake, and that a determination by an independent decisionmaker would materially reduce the number of erroneous certifications for 14-day treatment. The bare existence of optional habeas corpus review does not, of itself, alleviate due process concerns. We must, therefore, turn to the final consideration: whether the benefits of a rule requiring a hearing in every instance where 14-day certification is sought are outweighed by the added burden on the state. 30 The appellants argue that mandatory probable cause hearings would have a direct effect on the ability of psychiatric hospitals and facilities to provide the maximum amount of treatment to individuals in need of it. Every hour spent by a psychiatrist or physician testifying at a probable cause hearing is an hour which could have been spent in diagnosis and treatment of mentally ill persons. 31 While we are mindful of the importance of these concerns, we feel they do not carry the day here. Notably, the extent of the burden mandatory hearings would entail is largely hypothetical at this stage, because the district court did not impose any specific form of hearing. The court left it to appellants to develop and implement suitable procedures, noting that any hearing need not be held before a judge or judicial officer. No more is required than an independent evaluation, by a neutral decisionmaker, of the determination to confine a person as gravely disabled for 14 days. Recent Supreme Court decisions indicate that a decisionmaker within the institution will often suffice. E. g., Vitek, 445 U.S. at 496, 100 S.Ct. at 1265, 63 L.Ed.2d 567 (independent decisionmaker need not come from outside prison or hospital administration); Parham, 442 U.S. at 607, 99 S.Ct. at 2506, 61 L.Ed.2d at 122 (staff physician sufficient if free to evaluate independently the need for treatment and mental and emotional condition). 32 The appellants allude ominously to the unfortunate consequences of requiring medical professionals to spend most of their time trudging joylessly from one formal hearing to another, testifying rather than treating patients. We cannot agree that the district court's order necessarily leads to such a wasteful result. We do not believe that the appellants' speculations, based on an over-formal model, suffice to demonstrate an administrative burden substantial enough to outweigh the interests served by a mandatory hearing. We lack anything more concrete. It appeared to the district court, and it appears to us, that a constitutionally adequate procedure can be implemented without an undue burden on state resources. Appellants have failed to persuade us otherwise. We thus affirm the district court's ruling that a mandatory hearing must be afforded every individual in connection with a certification for 14-day intensive treatment under the LPS Act, at which a neutral decisionmaker will verify that sufficient cause for such confinement exists. 33