Court Opinion

ID: 9741622
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:59:33.518303+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:25.110525
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE COOK, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. While the petition did not state that petitioner made a good-faith attempt to determine whether respondent had executed a power of attorney for health care, the omission is harmless as respondent had the opportunity to produce the alleged power of attorney and has not. Dr. Eberhardt testified that respondent did not have a power of attorney, guardian, or declaration for mental-health treatment and that she never mentioned having any one of those until her outbursts during the hearing. Because respondent never claimed to have a power of attorney before the hearing, Dr. Eberhardt had no way of knowing if respondent had a power of attorney or how to locate it if it existed. Dr. Eberhardt testified respondent lacked capacity and suffered from bipolar affective disorder with severe and manic psychotic symptoms, euphoric affect, disorganized raging thoughts, grandiose delusions, and increased spending. The only evidence of respondent’s power of attorney is her statement during the hearing that she had a power of attorney. If respondent did not claim to have a power of attorney before the hearing and if she refused to consent to the release of all of her medical records, how was the State supposed to locate the power of attorney if one exists? Unlike records it has in its control, the State has to rely on respondent for assistance in producing a power of attorney. At the very least, respondent has to inform the State that it exists before the hearing and direct the State as to where it might be found. If such a document actually existed, respondent could have objected when the pleading was filed and the document could have been located. Also, respondent was represented at her hearing and is represented on appeal. Neither her hearing counsel nor her appellate counsel produced a power of attorney. The majority implies the document is easy to obtain as respondent stated where the document could be obtained in the hearing, yet respondent has not attached it to her brief. The majority distinguishes respondent’s case from Miller, which stated “neither the record before us nor [the] respondent in his brief indicat[ed] that such instruments actually existed,” by emphasizing that in this case respondent indicated a power of attorney exists. (Emphasis added.) Miller, 301 Ill. App. 3d at 1071, 705 N.E.2d at 151. The only indication of a power of attorney is the statement that one exists made during the hearing by one shown to be delusional and lacking capacity. A hearing for involuntary administration of medications should not be derailed by a last-second statement of a delusional patient claiming to have a power of attorney when medical professionals testify that the patient never before made such a claim and they had no way of obtaining such a document without the assistance of the patient who had thus far refused to cooperate or even acknowledge her illness.