Section 8.55 - 1. Statutory Right

• Jurisdiction: New York

1. Statutory Right

Mental Hygiene Law §§ 31.19(a) and 33.03 require that facilities provide persons receiving services for the mentally disabled with care and treatment suited to their needs, which is skillfully, safely and humanely administered with full respect for dignity and personal integrity. Under MHL §§ 7.07 and 13.07, the state OMH and OPWDD must ensure that the care and treatment provided to mentally disabled individuals within the state is “of high quality and effectiveness, and that the personal and civil rights of persons receiving care, treatment and rehabilitation are adequately protected.”¹²⁸⁹

New York State has acknowledged that the MHL establishes a statutory right of treatment for individuals with mental disabilities.¹²⁹⁰ Therefore, a facility’s failure to provide a safe and humane environment and/or adequate treatment constitutes a violation of statutory rights, which may be enforced by CPLR article 78, habeas corpus and actions for damages.¹²⁹¹ The failure to render adequate care may also be a defense in an action brought by a facility to collect fees for a patient’s hospitalization.¹²⁹² Because OMH and OPWDD are required to license and oversee the operation of all mental health facilities within the state, the state itself might even be called upon to remedy a non-state-operated institution’s failure to provide a patient with adequate treatment.¹²⁹³

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^[1289] MHL § 7.07(c); see MHL § 13.07(c).

^[1290] Woe v. Mathews, 408 F. Supp. 419 (E.D.N.Y. 1976), aff’d sub nom. Woe v. Weinberger, 562 F.2d 40 (2d Cir. 1977), cert. denied sub nom. Woe v. Califano, 434 U.S. 1048 (1978). See also Project Release v. Prevost, 551 F. Supp. 1298 (E.D.N.Y. 1982), aff’d, 722 F.2d 960 (2d Cir. 1983).

^[1291] Woe, 408 F. Supp. 419; Brown v. State, 84 A.D.2d 644, 444 N.Y.S.2d 304 (3d Dep’t 1981); Rennelli v. State Comm’r Mental Hygiene, 73 Misc. 2d 261, 340 N.Y.S.2d 498 (Sup. Ct., Richmond Co. 1973).

^[1292] State v. Stavola, 135 A.D.2d 1038, 523 N.Y.S.2d 189 (3d Dep’t 1987).

^[1293] Flowers v. Webb, 575 F. Supp. 1450 (E.D.N.Y. 1983).

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