25/07/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 25/07/2024 19:03
Baerga v. City of New York, CCIT-NYC, Disability Justice, News, Transforming Mental Health Crisis Response
Diana Rene was a patient involuntarily committed to Brunswick Hospital after visiting Stony Brook University Medical Center for a painful gland issue. As the filing mentions, "Critically, there is not an inevitable correlation between admission to a psychiatric in-patient unit and lack of decisional capacity."
"An involuntary commitment to a mental hospital constitutes a significant deprivation of liberty, see, e.g., Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418, 425 (1979), and therefore any adjudication of such a commitment requires the most careful examination of the facts by the reviewing court. And it is all the more critical that, where motions for summary judgment are made in such commitment cases, the court adhere to the strict axiom of resolving all ambiguities and drawing all permissible factual inferences in favor of the non-moving party, see, e.g., McLee v. Chrysler Corp., 109 F.3d 130, 134 (2d Cir. 1997).
Ensuring that individuals with mental disabilities, as well as those who are perceived to have mental disabilities, are able to avail themselves of the protections of Section 1983 like any other litigant, requires a full understanding of the widespread stereotyping and stigmatization of people with mental disabilities. This Court must then ensure that the district court's decision is devoid of any consideration based upon such stigmatization and stereotyping, especially as courts are barred from making credibility determinations at this stage."
Read the brief here.
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