DONALDSON v. O'CONNOR

No. 73-1843.

493 F.2d 507 (1974)

Kenneth DONALDSON, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J. B. O'CONNOR, M. D. and John Gumanis, M. D., Defendants-Appellants.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 26, 1974.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

James G. Mahorner, Gen. Counsel, State of Fla., Dept. of Health & Rehabilitative Services, Tallahassee, Fla., for Gumanis.

Mary E. Clark, Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Daniel S. Dearing, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dept. of Legal Affairs, Tallahassee, Fla., for O'Connor.

Morton Birnbaum, Brooklyn, N. Y., Bruce J. Ennis, New York City, George Dean, Jr., Destin, Fla., Eugene Z. DuBose, Jr., N. H. Legal Assist., New York City, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before RIVES, WISDOM and MORGAN, Circuit Judges.


WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

This case requires us to decide for the first time the far-reaching question whether the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees a right to treatment to persons involuntarily civilly committed to state mental hospitals. The plaintiff-appellee, Kenneth Donaldson, was civilly committed to the Florida State Hospital at Chattahootchee in January 1957, diagnosed as a "paranoid schizophrenic". He remained in that hospital for the next fourteen and a half...

Let's get started

Leagle.com

Welcome to the leading source of independent legal reporting
Sign on now to see your case.
Or view more than 10 million decisions and orders.

  • Updated daily.
  • Uncompromising quality.
  • Complete, Accurate, Current.

Listed below are the cases that are cited in this Featured Case. Click the citation to see the full text of the cited case. Citations are also linked in the body of the Featured Case.

Cited Cases

  • No Cases Found

Listed below are those cases in which this Featured Case is cited. Click on the case name to see the full text of the citing case.

Citing Cases