In re Easly2/26/2001
Argued: November 1, 2000
Nancy Thaler, Deputy Secretary of Mental Retardation (Secretary), Department of Public Welfare (Department), appeals from a May 8, 2000 order of the Court of Common Pleas of Venango County (trial court) denying her motion for post trial relief from the trial court's April 12, 2000 order. The April 12, 2000 order granted the Secretary's Petition for Mental Retardation Commitment (Petition), committed Ruth Easly to Polk Center pursuant to Section 406 of the Mental Health Mental Retardation Act of 1966 (MH/MR Act of 1966), and imposed restrictions upon any future removal of Ms. Easly from Polk Center.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The facts and procedural history of this matter, as found by the trial court, are as follows. Ms. Easly was born on December 2, 1927. Until her admission in 1942 at the age of fourteen to Polk Center, Ms. Easly resided with her family in Hastings, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Although Ms. Easly is seventy-two years old, she functions within the profound range of mental retardation as a result of a mechanical injury at birth. Ms. Easly has a communication age equivalent to one year, ten months, and daily living skills equivalent to two years, eight months. She has a socialization age of one year, six months, and a mental age of two years, one month, with an IQ of fourteen. Ms. Easly can walk but suffers from debilitating medical problems such as hiatel hernia, which causes her chest pains, hypercholesterolemia, scalp seborrhea and asteorosis. Ms. Easly is on medication, including carafte, skin lotion and mevacor, for her hypercholesterolemia.
Ms. Easly is accurately described as very small in stature, very unassuming and a very quiet person. When with a group of people, she likes to remain on the periphery and watch. She is fully ambulatory and has the capacity to communicate verbally. Ms. Easly enjoys looking at the pictures in magazines, watching television, and going to church.
No court proceeding was initiated to place Ms. Easly at Polk Center. When she was committed at age fourteen, her parents would have had the authority to commit her as a voluntary commitment. In 1998, Stephen Dvorchak, Ms. Easly's nephew, petitioned the trial court to be appointed plenary guardian of the person and estate of Ms. Easly. On July 6, 1998, the trial court, after a hearing, concluded that Ms. Easly was incapacitated and that a plenary guardian of her person and estate should be appointed. As a result, Mr. Dvorchak was appointed as plenary guardian.
The Department, pursuant to its plan for compliance with Part A of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ยงยง 12131-12134, began out processing from institutional settings, such as Polk Center, patients who the health care professionals determined could function in a community setting. The professional staff at Polk Center, as part of a team, concluded that Ms. Easly could function appropriately in a community group home, and began planning for her removal to a community group home. Thereafter, the professional staff at Polk Center, Cambria County Mental Health/Mental Retardation (Cambria County MH/MR) administration and the Cambrian Hills Center (a community based residential facility), collectively determined that community placement in Cambria County would be in Ms. Easly's best interest because Ms. Easly had originally come from Cambria County. Dialogue was opened with Ms. Easly's family; however, the family opposed Ms. Easly being removed from Polk Center.
Cambrian Hills is located in Portage, Cambria County, Pennsylvania and is owned and operated by Northwestern Human Services of Pennsylvania. Pursuant t
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