Law Offices of James B. Gottstein
Office of Counsel
907-274-7686 phone
907-274-9493 fax
Attorney for Faith J. Myers, Respondent
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
FOR THE STATE OF
THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT,
AT
In The Matter of the Hospitalization )
)
of )
)
FAITH J. MYERS )
) Case
No. 3AN 03-277 PR
OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR
EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION
Respondent opposes the motion for expedited consideration of
the state's Motion to Vacate Stay on Medication Orders (Motion).
In its Motion, the state is asserting the truth of exactly
the same things it steadfastly argued should not be addressed by the court and
which the court accepted, to wit: the safety and efficacy of the proposed
medication. For example on page 6 of the
motion, the state asserts that the medications have "previously proven to
be effective - to treat schizophrenia."
Similarly on page 3, the state says that "Ms. Myers needs the
benefit of the medication immediately."
At the March 5th hearing, the state successfully argued that these
issues should not be allowed to be testified to, which this court agreed with:
18
MR. KILLIP: Your Honor, again I
would object,
19
standard objection. We're not
challenging the practice of
20
medicine, here. If he has a
specific concern about how
21 API
is practicing medicine, then he has an opportunity to
22 file
a complaint, allege a cause of action and pursue
23
that. But we have two petitions
before the court today,
24 and
the only issues are criteria for commitment and the
25
criteria for administration of psychotropic medications.
0063
1 Have they been met? So we would object to the relevance.
2 THE COURT: The line of questioning that I want you
3 to pursue, that I've given you permission to
pursue right
4 now, is qualifications of this witness as to
psychotropic
5 medication.
6 MR. GOTTSTEIN: Psychopharmacology. That's exactly
7 what I'm intending to do.
8 THE COURT: All right.
9 MR. GOTTSTEIN: I asked a question about certain
10
medications.
11
THE COURT: Actually, you asked
his opinion about
12 the
efficacy of the medications, I think.
And I want you
13 to
just focus on his qualifications, please.
14
MR. GOTTSTEIN: Well, it seems to
me, Your Honor,
15 that
knowledge about the efficacy is part of his
16
qualifications.
17 THE COURT: I don't agree. I'm not going to allow
18 him to answer this question.
While opposing addressing the safety and efficacy of the
proposed medication at the original hearing, the state now wants to do it
through the back door in an expedited manner with the result being that
Respondent won't have an opportunity to meaningfully oppose it. The truth of the matter is, contrary to the
state's position, "The overall usefulness of [neuroleptics] in the
treatment of schizophrenia . . . is far from established."[1] (emphasis added) What is known is that these drugs are
extremely toxic.
What the state and her family characterize as improvement is
really chemical subduing and does little or nothing to help her recover from
schizophrenia:
NLPs [neuroleptics] frequently exert a
tranquillizing and subduing action on persons episodically manifesting
agitated, aggressive, or disturbed behavior.
This unique capacity to swiftly dampen patients' emotional reactivity
should once and for all be recognized to account for NLPs' impact on acute
psychosis. Yet, only a modestly critical
look at the evidence on short term response to NLPs will suggest that this
often does not produce abatement of psychosis.
And in the long-run, this outstanding NLP effect probably does little to
help persons diagnosed with schizophrenia remain stable enough to be rated as
"improved" -- whereas it is amply sufficient to produce disabling
toxicity.
Id, at 213.
Expedited consideration works an unfair and extreme
prejudice on Respondent in her ability to rebut the testimony of the state's
psychiatrist, which this court has uncritically accepted in the past, and expedited
consideration should be denied because of this prejudice.[2]
The
motion for expedited consideration was served at the end of the business day on
Friday, April 25th. Respondent has asked
for an update to her chart, but as it was the weekend it was not available
until this morning and could not be reviewed prior to the deadline for this
opposition. (See, Exhibit 1) Respondent
is entitled to a fair opportunity to rebut the allegations of the state. Respondent understands that the court has a
tendency to automatically rely upon the testimony of the state's
witnesses. However, this reliance is
misplaced:
Experts frequently . . .
subvert statutory and case law criteria that impose rigorous behavioral
standards as predicates for commitment . . .
This combination . . . helps define
a system in which (1) dishonest testimony is often regularly (and unthinkingly)
accepted; (2) statutory and case law standards are frequently subverted; and
(3) insurmountable barriers are raised to insure that the allegedly
"therapeutically correct" social end is met . . .. In short, the
mental disability law system often deprives individuals of liberty
disingenuously and upon bases that have no relationship to case law or to
statutes.
The
It is highly likely that Dr. Hanowell's affidavit mischaracterizes
or exaggerates Ms. Myers' behavior as violent in order to obtain the court
order the state is seeking and Ms. Myers is entitled to a meaningful
opportunity to rebut this. Expedited
consideration will not give her such a meaningful opportunity.
In addition, following the April 19th Order, investigation
reveals that the state's testimony as set forth in page 9 of the Order: "Drs.
Kletti and Hanowell testified that
For the foregoing reasons, Respondent adamantly opposes
expedited consideration of the state's Motion to Vacate Stay on Medication
Orders and urges the court to deny it.
DATED:
Law
Offices of James B. Gottstein
By:
James
B. Gottstein
Counsel certifies that a copy of the
foregoing was served on Jeff Killip this same date.
__________________________________
[1] "A Critique of the Use of Neuroleptic Drugs," which is attached to the deposition of Dr. Hanowell, at page 195.
[2] The real problem as explained by Dr. Smith and admitted to by the state, which was overlooked by the court in issuing its April 19, 2003 Order is that the hospital is not providing the type of non-medication treatment that is likely to benefit her.
[3] Respondent respectfully suggests that this is exactly what has happened here and intends to file a motion for reconsideration of the April 19th Order within the time allowed in order to draw the court's attention to things it has overlooked and where it has misapplied the law.