87 A.D.2d 66 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1982
OPINION OF THE COURT
Mark David Chapman is serving a sentence of 20 years to life in Attica Correctional Facility for the killing of John Lennon, the former Beatle. He appeals from an .order at Special Term which authorized Martin Von Holden, the Director of the New York Psychiatric Center, where Chapman is temporarily in custody, to take all steps necessary to force-feed Chapman in order to sustain his life. Invoking a constitutional right to privacy and to freedom of expression,. Chapman claims that such State intervention is an unwarranted invasion of those rights. Under the circumstances presented here, we hold that the obligation of the State to protect the health and welfare of persons in its
BACKGROUND
On February 10, 1982 Chapman was transferred to the Psychiatric Center pursuant to subdivision 9 of section 402 of the Correction Law, upon the certification of two examining physicians that he was suffering from a mental illness which was likely to result in serious harm to himself. That certification resulted from his refusal to eat for several days prior to the transfer and his expressed intention to take his life by starvation. Von Holden applied to Special Term for an order authorizing him to feed Chapman intravenously or by means of a nasal gastric tube and a hearing on the petition was held on February 25,1982, at which time Chapman had not eaten for 22 days. The only witness at the hearing was Dr. Daniel N. Uwah, Chapman’s treating physician and psychiatrist. According to his testimony and to the affidavit of Von Holden, Chapman was competent; had frequently expressed an intention to commit suicide; was fully aware that his refusal to eat would result in death; had stated that he was attempting to draw attention to the starving children in the world; that although he was not in imminent danger of death, delay would run the risk of irreversible brain damage, blindness and ultimately death; that the point at which his condition would become irreversible could not be predicted with certainty; and that because this condition could deteriorate rapidly, immediate intervention was indicated in order to prevent death or irreversible brain damage. There was further evidence that Chapman’s hunger strike had caused disruption in the procedures in his unit, resentment among other patients, and had resulted in other patients adopting the starvation technique in order to gain attention.
RIGHT OF PRIVACY
Relying on a line of cases of which Griswold v Connecticut (381 US 479) is the wellspring, Chapman contends that he has a constitutional right of privacy derived from the
The fact that the State has a legitimate and compelling interest in preventing suicide is demonstrated by several statutes. A person may be involuntarily committed if he has a mental illness likely to result in serious harm to himself (Mental Hygiene Law, §§ 9.37, 9.39, 9.41). Aiding another to commit suicide is a felony (Penal Law, § 125.15, subd 3), as is promoting a suicide attempt (Penal Law* § 120.30). Conversely, a person is justified in using the physical force necessary to thwart a person who is about to commit suicide (Penal Law, § 35.10, subd 4). Subdivision 9 of section 402 and subdivision 3 of section 508 of the Correction Law provide procedures whereby an inmate may be transferred to a psychiatric hospital when it appears likely that he will cause serious harm to himself.
The preservation of life has a high social value in our culture and suicide is deemed “a grave public wrong” (Stiles v Clifton Springs Sanitarium Co., 74 F Supp 907, 909; Hundert v Commercial Travelers Mut. Acc. Assn. of Amer., 244 App Div 459). Even a perfunctory perusal of the
Our attention has been directed to four cases in which the issue of whether the right to privacy includes the right to commit suicide by starvation while in State custody has been specifically decided. Matter of Clauso (_NJ Super_ [Mercer County, No. L 33141-81, Feb., 1982]); White v Bordenkircher (286 SE2d 686 [W Va]) and Boyce v Petrovsky (US Dist Ct, WDMo, No. 81-3322-CV-S-WRC, Sept., 1981) all refused to recognize such right. Zant v Prevatte (248 Ga 832), however, finding that the prisoner was sane and rational, held that he should be permitted to starve to death if he so chose. The rationale seemed to be that because the prisoner was once under a death sentence, if he were still under that sentence (p 834) “the State would ask the court to allow it to keep him alive against his will so it could later kill him.” The Georgia court relied on cases which, in our opinion, are clearly distinguishable as they involve the right to refuse radical surgery or similar medical treatment.
Like the Georgia court, Chapman invokes that theory, citing Matter of Yetter (62 Pa D & C 2d 619) and Matter of Erickson v Dilgard (44 Misc 2d 27) which hold that a
Even superficial comparison of the right to decline medical treatment with the right to take one’s life illustrates their essential dissimilarity and to argue that because the State has recognized the former it must permit the latter would be to engage in the most specious reasoning.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
As an alternative argument, Chapman urges that his fasting was not an attempt at suicide but rather symbolic speech entitled to the protection of the First Amendment. In that regard, he claims that he was attempting to draw public attention to the starving children of the world. Accepting that proposition for the sake of discussion, we need only remark that Chapman’s status as a prisoner renders his First Amendment rights subject to the reasonable limitations necessary for the maintenance of order and discipline in a penal institution (Shaffery v Winters, 72 FED 191, 194). Whereas a prisoner’s right of expression may not be circumscribed to an extent greater than that required for the legitimate ends of prison security and administration (Bell v Wolfish, 441 US 520, 545-547; New-kirk v Butler, 364 F Supp 497, 501, mod on other grounds
The order should be affirmed.
Simons, J. P., Callahan, Boomer and Moule, JJ., concur.
Order unanimously affirmed, without costs.