Schafer v. Ethridge

Linda Kay Schafer suffers from profound mental retardation and has the mental equivalence of a child at age two or younger. Although she can make noises, she has no vocabulary. From 1964 through 1978, Linda was a resident of defendant Oakdale Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities, which is operated by defendant State of Michigan, Department of Mental Health. In late 1977, Linda, then twenty years old, developed an infection in her urinary tract. She was placed in a medical ward known as "2-West,” where she remained from November 2, 1977, until December 16, 1977. During her stay in…