People v. Hays

JUSTICE "WARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

The circuit court of Macon County declared Robert Hays to be a person subject under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code (the Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 91½, par. 3 — 100 et seq.) to involuntary admission to a mental health facility. The appellate court reversed, with one judge dissenting (115 Ill. App. 3d 686), and we granted the State’s petition for leave to appeal under Rule 315 (87 Ill. 2d R. 315).

On October 11, 1982, Robert Hays, 19 years old, voluntarily admitted himself to the psychiatric unit of Mercy Hospital in…