In the Interest of S.R.B.

Summary

The North Dakota Supreme Court reviewed orders involuntarily committing S.R.B. for hospitalization and treatment and authorizing involuntary medication. The court held that the district court’s findings were insufficient to establish that S.R.B. was a person requiring treatment and that hospitalization was the least restrictive alternative, remanding for expedited findings. It reversed the medication order because S.R.B. received neither notice nor a hearing and the statutory factors were not established.

Holdings

1. A district court must make specific findings identifying the evidentiary basis for concluding that a respondent is a person requiring treatment; conclusory findings that merely recite the ultimate legal conclusions are inadequate.
2. Before ordering hospitalization, the district court must specifically find, by clear and convincing evidence, that hospitalization is the least restrictive treatment or that alternative treatment is inadequate to meet the respondent's needs and prevent harm.
3. A court may authorize involuntary treatment with prescribed medication only after providing notice and a hearing and determining by clear and convincing evidence that the statutory medication-treatment factors have been established.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court made sufficiently specific findings of fact to support the ninety-day hospitalization and treatment order.
2. Whether the district court adequately determined that hospitalization was the least restrictive treatment alternative.
3. Whether the district court could authorize involuntary treatment with prescribed medication without notice and a hearing and without findings on the statutory factors.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded