Fhagen v. Miller

Chief Judge Fuld.

We are called upon to consider the constitutionality of sections 72 and 78 of the Mental Hygiene Law which provide for involuntary admission of certain types of mental patients.1

The plaintiffs, former mental patients in New York State and New York City hospitals, asserting that they are in “ constant *351apprehension ’ ’ of being committed under sections 72 and 78, seek a judgment declaring those provisions unconstitutional. In brief, it is their position that, in authorizing involuntary hospitalization without prior notice or judicial hearing, the challenged sections deprive…