Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout93-0028 CivilCOMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION: AT CAMP HILL, Plaintiff V. BOBBY E. BRIGHTWELL, Defendant IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL ACTION - EQUITY 28 EQUITY 1993 IN RE: PETITION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION BEFORE OLER. J ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this 12th day of July, 1993, upon consideration of the Commonwealth's Petition for a Preliminary Injunction, and following a hearing, the preliminary injunction previously issued ex parte by this Court on July 7, 1993, is continued in full force and effect, and Bobby E. Brightwell may be involuntarily administered medical treatment, including but not limited to nutrition and hydration, as may be medically necessary to preserve his health and life, pending a final adjudication of this matter, as is determined by the medical personnel duly charged with his care. By the Court, +JWesley O e , Jr., CLIFFORD D. SWIFT, ESQUIRE ROBERT J. MULDERIG, ESQUIRE For the Commonwealth Court -Appointed Counsel For the Defendant COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION: AT CAMP HILL, Plaintiff V. BOBBY E. BRIGHTWELL, Defendant IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL ACTION - EQUITY 28 EQUITY 1993 IN RE: PETITION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION BEFORE OLER, J. ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this 12th day of July, 1993, upon consideration of the Commonwealth's Petition for a Preliminary Injunction, and following a hearing, the preliminary injunction previously issued ex parte by this Court on July 7, 1993, is continued in full force and effect, and Bobby E. Brightwell may be involuntarily administered medical treatment, including but not limited to nutrition and hydration, as may be medically necessary to preserve his health and life, pending a final adjudication of this mutter, as is determined by the medical personnel duly charged with his care. By the Court, _L.",C; jU Wesley O e , Jr., CLIFFORD D. SWIFT, ESQUIRE ROBERT J. MULDERIG, ESQUIRE For the Commonwealth Court -Appointed Counsel For the Defendant COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION: AT CAMP HILL, Plaintiff V. BOBBY E. BRIGHTWELL, Defendant IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL ACTION - EQUITY 28 EQUITY 1993 IN RE: PETITION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION BEFORE OLER. J. OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT This action in equity for injunctive relief arises out of a refusal to eat on the part of the Defendant, Bobby E. Brightwell, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The Plaintiff, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Corrections, State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill, requests a preliminary injunction to permit the involuntary administration of medical treatment with respect to the Defendant. An ex parte preliminary injunction providing for such relief was entered by this Court on July 7, 1993. Following a hearing on the issue of whether that preliminary injunction should be continued, vacated, or modified, on July 12, 1993, at which hearing the Defendant was present with his Court -Appointed Counsel, Robert Mulderig, Esquire, and the Commonwealth was represented by Clifford D. Swift, Esquire, the following Findings of Fact, Discussion, and Order of Court are made and entered: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Plaintiff in this action is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Corrections, State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill. 2. The Defendant in this action is Bobby E. Brightwell, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill. 3. By way of prior history, it is noted that a previous series of proceedings and orders with respect to the Defendant occurred in this Court at No. 10 EQUITY 1993. These proceedings and orders included an order for an ex parte preliminary injunction permitting the administration of involuntary medical treatment on March 17, 1993; a hearing on March 22, 1993, at which the Defendant was present with his Court -Appointed Counsel, Robert Kline, Esquire, on the issue of the continuation of the ex parte injunction; an order dated March 22, 1993, continuing in full force and effect the previously issued ex parte injunction; an order dated April 8, 1993, by agreement of counsel, directing that Defendant's counsel be notified within 24 hours of the insertion of any nasogastric tube; a hearing on May 10, 1993, on an application by the Defendant for the appointment of a medical expert; and an order dated May 10, 1993, denying the Petitioner's application for appointment of a medical expert. The present hearing is the third hearing at which the Defendant has been present in this Court in the last several months. 4. The Defendant has recently engaged in another refusal to eat, during which time he refused to take proper nourishment, as a result of which this Court entered an ex parte preliminary injunction on July 7, 1993, in response to a request from the Commonwealth; said injunction authorized the involuntary administration of medical treatment to the Defendant. 5. The refusal to eat engaged in by the Defendant endangered his health, causing medical personnel at the institution to believe that involuntary administration of nourishment was necessary to protect his health. 6. The present refusal to eat is one of a series of such refusals by the Defendant and is rendered more serious because it has been preceded by damaging hunger strikes in the past. The involuntary administration of medical treatment is necessary to protect the life and health of the Defendant, and may be necessary on short notice, because of his pattern of refusals to eat in the past. 7. The effect of a hunger strike upon the inmate population at the institution, as well as the medical and other staff, is highly damaging; it places other inmates under stress, may lead to copycat behavior, and may cause inmates to believe that the prison staff is hopeful that a given inmate will not survive; it is also demoralizing to the prison medical staff. 8. The institution at which the Defendant resides was the site of very serious riots in 1989, and in November of 1992 an inmate who was on a hunger strike passed away from causes which may or may not have been related to the strike. 9. The institution believes that it needs the authority to immediately administer treatment to the Defendant, and the Court is in agreement with the institution's position and finds that such treatment is in the best interest of the Defendant. 10. The Court finds that the failure to issue the preliminary injunction requested in this case risks more harm than the issuance of the injunction; that the Commonwealth's right to relief is clear; and that equitable relief is warranted in this case, the harm occasioned by the failure to issue the injunction being of an irreparable nature. DISCUSSION The issue presented by this case has been decided by the Commonwealth Court in the case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Public Welfare Farview State Hospital v. Joseph Kallinger, Pa. Commw. , 580 A.2d 887 (1990). In Kallinger, the Court held that the interests of the Commonwealth in prison security and discipline outweighed any right of privacy held by the prisoner in that case, who wished to starve himself; the Court further held that, as a consequence, the Commonwealth does have a right in appropriate circumstances to force feed a prisoner. It is believed that the circumstances of this case parallel the facts in the Kallinger case. entered: For these reasons, the following Order will be ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this 12th day of July, 1993, upon consideration of the Commonwealth's Petition for a Preliminary Injunction, and following a hearing, the preliminary injunction previously issued ex parte by this Court on July 7, 1993, is continued in full force and effect, and Bobby E. Brightwell may be involuntarily administered medical treatment, including but not limited to nutrition and hydration, as may be medically necessary to preserve his health and life, pending a final adjudication of this matter, as is determined by the medical personnel duly charged with his care. By the Court, s J. Wesley Oler, Jr. J. CLIFFORD D. SWIFT, ESQUIRE For the Commonwealth ROBERT J. MULDERIG, ESQUIRE Court -Appointed Counsel For the Defendant wcy