Holmes v. Powers

PALMORE, Judge.

This, to say the least, is an unusual case. The appellants, county health officer and local medical society of Whitley County, seek a declaratory judgment to the effect that they can sterilize the appellee, a 35-year-old unmarried woman who is mentally retarded and has two illegitimate children (one of whom also is retarded), without civil or criminal liability to themselves. They appeal from an adjudication that they “cannot legally perform a sexual sterilization operation upon the defendant because the defendant is not mentally competent to grant permission and there is no…