Boggs v. New York City Health & Hospitals Corp.
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
132 A.D.2d 340, 523 N.Y.S.2d 71 (1987)
- Written by Nicole Gray , JD
Facts
Ms. Billie Boggs (plaintiff), whose real name was Joyce Brown, was homeless and suffered from schizophrenia. A traveling team of psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers who worked for an organization that provided emergency psychiatric services to the homeless observed Boggs for a year. During that year, the team observed that Boggs’s clothes became dirtier and more torn; she smelled of urine and feces; she shouted obscenities at passersby; and she exhibited more obscure antisocial behavior. The team tried interviewing Boggs on several occasions and giving her food and clothes, but she rebuffed the help, throwing food at them, cursing them out, and once, running out into traffic to discard unwanted clothes. The organization had Boggs forcibly taken to a state hospital on five occasions; however, no physician would admit Boggs, finding that she was not dangerous. Finally, a team psychiatrist who observed Boggs three times during the year had Boggs taken to Bellevue hospital after she threw food at him and chased him around the corner. Boggs was admitted to Bellevue, and four days later, an independent psychiatrist found that she was open, warm, coherent, and logical. The next day, the independent psychiatrist testified to his findings at Boggs’s commitment hearing; he also testified that Boggs was not psychotic and did not possess suicidal or homicidal ideation. A Bellevue psychiatrist testified that the morning of the hearing was her only opportunity to interview Boggs because Boggs had been angry and aggressive during other attempts. However, then the doctor noted Boggs was verbal, bright, and oriented, but attributed the improvement to treatment. Boggs testified that she was a professional vagrant, that her behavior was necessary for survival and solitude, and that she would return to being homeless if released. Boggs added that she had never been assaulted. The hearing court ordered that Boggs be released after concluding that Boggs was homeless because of poverty and not mental illness. The city appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ross, J.)
Dissent (Milonas, J.)
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