In re M.B. Mental Hygiene Legal Service

I share the serious concerns that prompt my colleagues to hold that the Health Care Decisions Act for Persons with Mental Retardation does not apply retroactively so as to authorize a guardian appointed prior to the adoption of that law to make health care decisions, including the decision to refuse medical treatment, for a mentally-retarded ward. Nevertheless, the Legislature has, in my view, resolved the limited issue presented on this appeal by providing clearly and unambiguously in the statute itself for its retroactive application. As I see it, in the absence of a constitutional…