Opinion ID: 783048
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Anthony's and Wright's Claims Stemming from the Events at Kings County Hospital

Text: 47 It is undisputed that after being transported by Officers Collegio and Migliaro to Kings County Hospital, Anthony was confined there overnight. During this confinement, the hospital took blood and urine samples, and forcibly administered drug tests and anti-psychotic medication. Anthony alleges that these actions violated her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and her Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process right to bodily integrity [Blue 36], and she brings a § 1983 claim against HHC based on these alleged constitutional violations. 48 The parties do not dispute that Anthony was seized while she was confined at Kings County Hospital, and it is established that blood and urine tests constitute searches under the Fourth Amendment. Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 767-68, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966) (blood); Skinner v. Ry. Labor Executives' Ass'n, 489 U.S. 602, 617, 109 S.Ct. 1402, 103 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989) (urine). Anthony's confinement at Kings County Hospital was not unconstitutional, however, because the hospital staff had reasonable grounds to believe that she was a danger to herself or to others. See Glass, 984 F.2d at 58. The records from Anthony's examinations by hospital staff demonstrate that they found her initially unresponsive, and subsequently delusional and paranoid. [JA 89-96, 105, 107-08] Although the hospital staff also correctly diagnosed Anthony with Down Syndrome and hearing difficulty, these diagnoses did not necessarily explain the other evidence of delusional and paranoid behavior. 49 Nor did the blood and urine tests conducted by hospital staff violate the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment does not proscribe all searches and seizures, but only those that are unreasonable. Skinner, 489 U.S. at 619, 109 S.Ct. 1402. The Supreme Court has held that warrantless blood and urine tests for the purpose of detecting drug use are reasonable and therefore constitutionally permissible when justified by special needs beyond a generalized law enforcement purpose. Id. at 619-20, 109 S.Ct. 1402; see also Ferguson v. City of Charleston, 532 U.S. 67, 76-80, 121 S.Ct. 1281, 149 L.Ed.2d 205 (2001) (affirming the special needs doctrine, and holding that warrantless drug tests conducted on hospital patients solely for a law enforcement purpose were unconstitutional because they fell outside the special needs doctrine). Here, the blood and urine tests were not conducted for any law enforcement purpose, but rather were undertaken to facilitate Anthony's diagnosis and treatment by ruling out drug use or other physiological conditions as a possible explanation for her delusional behavior. The tests were therefore constitutionally permissible. Cf. Skinner, 489 U.S. at 619-20, 623-24, 109 S.Ct. 1402. 50 Finally, HHC's confinement and involuntary medication of Anthony did not violate her Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights. As a substantive matter, due process does not permit the involuntary hospitalization of a person who is not a danger either to herself or to others. Rodriguez v. City of New York, 72 F.3d 1051, 1061 (2d Cir. 1995). As just noted, HHC staff reasonably believed that Anthony was a danger to herself or to others, and the involuntary hospitalization was therefore constitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. 51 As none of the events that occurred at Kings County Hospital violated Anthony's constitutional rights, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment against Anthony on her § 1983 claim against HHC.
52 Wright alleges that Anthony's confinement overnight at Kings County Hospital unconstitutionally interfered with her substantive due process right of familial association. We have held that family members have, in general terms, a substantive right under the Due Process Clause `to remain together without the coercive interference of the awesome power of the state.' Tenenbaum v. Williams, 193 F.3d 581, 600 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting Duchesne v. Sugarman, 566 F.2d 817, 825 (2d Cir.1977)). In order to prevail on her claim, Wright must demonstrate that her separation from Anthony 11 was so shocking, arbitrary, and egregious that the Due Process Clause would not countenance it even were it accompanied by full procedural protection. Id. 53 We agree with the district court that Anthony's temporary separation from Wright, while undoubtedly difficult and upsetting for both women, was not so shocking, arbitrary, and egregious as to violate Wright's substantive due process rights. See Anthony, 2001 WL 741743, at . The police officers undertook numerous attempts to contact Wright before transporting Anthony to the hospital; Anthony and Wright were ultimately separated only for a short time; and the hospital staff accommodated Wright's interest in staying with Anthony by allowing Wright to spend the night in Anthony's hospital room. See Tenenbaum, 193 F.3d at 600-01 (holding that parents' right to familial association was not violated when the state removed their daughter from school for several hours to determine whether she had been sexually abused, and stressing that the short separation at issue did not violate substantive due process because it did not result in [the plaintiffs'] wholesale relinquishment of their right to rear their daughter (quoting Joyner v. Dumpson, 712 F.2d 770, 778 (2d Cir.1983)) (internal quotation marks omitted)). We thus affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment against Wright on her familial association claim.