K. C. M. v. State

OPINION

Before RABINOWITZ, C. J., CONNOR, BURKE and MATTHEWS, JJ., and CRASKE, Superior Court Judge. BURKE, Justice.

This appeal raises the question of whether the superior court has the authority to order the sterilization of a mental incompetent upon petition by the incompetent’s legal guardian. We conclude that the superi- or court, as a court of general jurisdiction, does have the authority to entertain and act upon such a petition.

C.D.M. is a nineteen year old woman who has been afflicted since birth with Down’s Syndrome.1 As a result of her illness, C.D. M.’s I.Q. is in the fifties,…