Wyatt v. Aderholt

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

In this case, we must decide whether federal district courts have the power to order state mental institutions to provide minimum levels of psychiatric care and treatment1 to persons civilly committed to the institutions.

The guardians of patients civilly committed to three Alabama facilities for the mentally handicapped brought this class action on behalf of their wards and other civilly committed patients at those institutions. The Honorable Frank M. Johnson, trial judge, held that mentally ill patients “have a constitutional right to receive such individual treatment…