Kolocotronis v. Ritterbusch

667 S.W.2d 430
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 21, 1984
DocketWD 34147
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 667 S.W.2d 430 (Kolocotronis v. Ritterbusch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kolocotronis v. Ritterbusch, 667 S.W.2d 430 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

BERREY, Judge.

This case concerns the statutory right of an involuntarily committed mental patient to refuse antipsychotic medication. Appellant, a patient at the Fulton State Hospital, filed a petition for injunction in the Circuit Court, Probate Division, of Callaway County to terminate the administration of prolix-in and the proposed administration of lithium carbonate. In his petition, appellant contends that he is within the ambit of § 630.180, RSMo.1980, which restricts the state’s authority to forcibly administer “... any form of medical treatment of any person who is being treated by prayer in the practice of the religion of any church which teaches reliance on' spiritual means for healing....” After a hearing without the aid of a jury, the circuit court issued an order denying appellant’s petition because his purported religion was not of any “church.” The order is affirmed.

Appellant was originally committed by the Circuit Court of St. Louis on a charge of assault with intent to ravish and transferred to Fulton State Hospital in February, 1961. Subsequently, appellant was transferred from Fulton to a hospital in Montana, then to Western State Hospital in Washington, and finally back to Fulton in May, 1981. There is no evidence in the record that appellant has ever been adjudicated incompetent.

Appellant is 46 years old and of gifted intelligence, having an I.Q. of 139. He has been diagnosed by the Fulton State Hospital Clinical Director, Dr. Henry Bratkow-ski, as suffering from manic depression. This illness’ symptomatology includes grandiose illusions, hyperactivity, pressured speech and distractibility. To mitigate these symptoms, Dr. Bratkowski prescribed biweekly injections of prolixin and vitamin B-12. At the hearing, Dr. Brat-kowski testified that appellant should be treated with lithium carbonate,. but this was not being done because appellant had stated that he would physically resist its administration.

Appellant testified that he allowed prolix-in to be administered because it could be done forcibly if he had refused, and he would rather receive this drug than lithium. He testified further, however, that some medication was acceptable if taken when needed.

Appellant claims to be the founder of the “Heaven on Earth” religion. In 1963, appellant, while hospitalized, wrote and subsequently published a book entitled The New Bible that sets forth his beliefs. Preeminent among these tenets is resort to prayer for the healing of “all mental illness, schizophrenia, depression, manic depression, paranoid grandiosity....” A thorough reading of The New Bible is a trip through never, never land. The following excerpt at page 107 of The New Bible is but an example:

This religion and me are against all psychiatric treatment done by psychiatrists, doctors, judge, or anybody else, for all time, including behavior modification, es *432 pecially some things that are illegal, Lobotomy, brains burned out, radio implanted in the brain, ESP, electrical plant simulation, computers implanted, movement manipulation, remote control, electrode implanting, psycho-surgery, electroshock treatment, electro compulsive shock treatments, cattle prods, gas shock treatment, X-ray treatments, olive oil treatments and injection, implanting radioactive seeds, ultrasonic beam implanting, beam implanting, protein proton beams, freezing, medications,, tranquilizers, drugs, straps, straightjackets, imprisonment, solitary, and all similar treatment. Which sho.ws the doctors may be more crazy than me for thinking up stuff like that to do. Them are all treatments.

A complete reading of The New Bible reveals musical lyrics and scores, photographs of nude females, movie personalities, Hitler, babies, editorials and sketches, all with no interconnecting thought pattern.

Appellant’s petition for an injunction is premised upon § 630.180, RSMo., which reads:

The provisions of this Chapter and Chapters 631, 632, and 633, RSMo., shall not be construed as authorizing any form of compulsory medical treatment of any person who is being treated by prayer in the practice of the religion of any church which teaches reliance on spiritual means for healing unless the person or his legal guardian, if any, consents to such treatment.

At the hearing, appellant failed to adduce substantial evidence demonstrating the existence of any religious followers. Indeed, the following is the only evidence offered by the appellant:

Q. Uh-huh. Now are there people other than you that are members of this religious organization?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who would they be?
A. The guy that’s got followers in France said not to bring his name up in court. I told him I would bring his name up in court, and he said please don’t do it or I’ll get him in trouble in France. And he said he don’t want his name brought up in court. And he said that—he stopped writing me then. He used to write me real glorified, flattering letters.

The circuit court considered appellant’s failure of proof to be fatal to his argument. The court interpreted § 630.180 literally, defining “church” as “some type of organized body of theology held by more than one person.” Under this interpretation, appellant was not entitled to injunctive relief.

I.

Appellant argues that the circuit court committed five errors during the hearing. The gist of appellant’s argument is that in interpreting § 630.180 the court did not rely upon established canons of statutory construction. The following discussion clearly demonstrates that no such error was committed.

As set forth in appellant’s brief, points relied on A and D read:

A
THE TRIAL COURT SHOULD HAVE FOUND THAT SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE SHOWED THAT APPELLANT’S BELIEFS WERE A RELIGION PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE I SECTION 5 OF THE MISSOURI CONSTITUTION IN THAT APPELLANT’S BELIEFS WERE BASED UPON APPELLANT’S RELIGIOUS TRAINING IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, THAT APPELLANT HAD MAINTAINED A CONSISTENT BELIEF SINCE 1964, AND THAT APPELLANT’S BELIEFS HAD THE TRAITS OF ORTHODOX RELIGIONS. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT APPELLANT’S BELIEFS WERE NOT PROTECTED BY § 630.180 (1980) IN STATING THAT ONLY RELIGIONS HELD BY TWO OR MORE PERSONS WERE PROTECTED BY THE STATUTE AND MAKING THE MORAL *433 JUDGMENT THAT APPELLANT’S BELIEFS WERE DEPRAVED AND NOT PROTECTED, [citations omitted]
D
THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY INTERPRETING § 630.180 RSMO. (1980) TO APPLY TO ONLY INDIVIDUALS OP AN ORGANIZED CHURCH CONSISTING OF AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS SINCE THIS INTERPRETATION IS ABSURD AND MAKES THE STATUTE INEFFECTIVE BY VIOLATING THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION AND ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSES IN THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND MISSOURI CONSTITUTION. THE COURT SHOULD HAVE INTERPRETED THIS STATUTE USING THE ACCEPTED CANNONS [sic] ADOPTED BY THE COURTS AND FOUND THAT THE STATUTE PROTECTED THE RIGHT OF ALL PERSONS OF EVERY RELIGION TO REFUSE MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL BELIEF.

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Bluebook (online)
667 S.W.2d 430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kolocotronis-v-ritterbusch-moctapp-1984.