Opinion ID: 895244
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Commitment Hearing

Text: An employee of the Gulf Coast Center testified that he was present when K.E.W. came to the Center on April 17, 2008. According to the employee, K.E.W. appeared to be extremely paranoid, was difficult to redirect, and asked numerous times for a certain female staff member who worked there. The staff became concerned enough to place the female staff member in the back behind a closed door until K.E.W. could be escorted from the Center. The employee further testified that K.E.W. refused to cooperate with the staff, paced around the building, and refused to calm down or stand still. As a result of K.E.W.'s behavior the police were called, but when they arrived, he still refused to cooperate. A counselor from the Center testified that according to the medical records, K.E.W. said he wanted to get some Gulf Coast Center women pregnant. She testified that he was a regular patient of the Center[h]e is on our Ag team, the highest level of services you will seeand that the Center employees recommended he be committed to Austin State Hospital. Dr. Ortiz, one of K.E.W.'s treating psychiatrists at the hospital, testified that she had seen K.E.W. daily during the week preceding the hearing and that during his stay at the hospital he would become agitated regarding his belief about the women. When he was in the emergency room he was inconsolable because he experienced the knowledge that some of the women that he was seeking were in the emergency room, that he had just missed them, and that staff members in the emergency room were withholding information from him about the women's whereabouts as a conspiracy to hide them from him. During the times Dr. Ortiz interacted with K.E.W., he became agitated, was intrusive, and invaded [her] space. There were additional times when K.E.W. became very upset because he believed Dr. Ortiz knew where the women were located. Dr. Ortiz expressed concern about two particular behaviors of K.E.W. as a potential danger to others. One of the potential dangers was non-consensual sexual interaction with the specific women he sought. While Dr. Ortiz acknowledged K.E.W. did not state that he intended to impregnate anyone against her will and to her knowledge K.E.W. did not directly proposition a particular staff member or patient at the hospital, she explained that K.E.W. was very intrusive and she did not know, given his state of mind, if he would understand that no means no. Dr. Stone, another of K.E.W.'s treating psychiatrists at the hospital, evaluated K.E.W. and stated that K.E.W. had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. K.E.W. told Dr. Stone on several occasions that he was on a mission to create a superior race, which involved tracking down and impregnating certain women. Dr. Stone stated that K.E.W. carried papers with him that detailed his intent to carry out his plans and that there are several names that he has that he claims are the names of the women that he wishes to impregnate. Dr. Stone testified that K.E.W. did not exhibit any threatening behavior at the hospital, but that because of K.E.W.'s firm belief in his delusion that he needed to locate and impregnate certain women, he could harm others. He opined that K.E.W. was a danger to this group of women and expressed concern that K.E.W. would act on his delusions if he found a female who he believed was promised to him. Dr. Stone also testified that K.E.W. is a danger to women in general because K.E.W. might mistake any woman for one of the women he believed was promised to him. He testified, In fact on the unit we're very careful when female medical staff go to talk to him to keep the door open. Not because he is homicidal, but in his confused belief he could believe a woman is there and someone promised to him that does want to be impregnated. Dr. Stone recommended that K.E.W. receive antipsychotic medication and treatment at Austin State Hospital.