Filed Date: March 9, 1972
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Sometime in 1972, two mental institution inmates at Iowa Security Medical Facility (ISMF) filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against state officials in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Central Division. The plaintiffs, represented by the Hawkeye Legal Aid Society, asked the court for injunctive relief, alleging that the defendants' actions constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Specifically, the plaintiff contended that they had been, without their consent, subjected to injections of a drug that induced vomiting.
Sometime in 1972 or 73, the Magistrate Judge (Judge Unknown) recommended that the complaint be dismissed but that certain precautionary steps needed to be taken in administering the drug if it was to be continued in use at the facility.
Sometime in 1972 or 73, the District Court (Judge William C. Stuart) dismissed the complaint and did not adopt the Magistrate Judge's recommendations concerning the drug's future administration. The plaintiffs appealed.
On December 5, 1973, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (Judge Donald Roe Ross) reversed with directions. Knecht v. Gillman, 488 F.2d 1136 (8th Cir. 1973). The Court held that administration of the drug to nonconsenting mental institution inmates constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The Court reasoned that, as ISMF housed both civil and criminal patients, civil patients' compromise of procedural rights in their transfer to ISMF was only justified if the purpose of commitment there was treatment and not punishment. Accordingly, the Court held that the forcing someone to vomit for a fifteen minute period for committing some minor breach of the rules could only be regarded as Pavolovian conditioning qua cruel and unusual punishment unless the treatment was being administered to a patient who knowingly and intelligently consented to it. The Court instructed the District Court to enjoin the defendants from further use of the drug except pursuant to specific guidelines the Court set forth.
Because we have only the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, we have no more information on this file.
Summary Authors
Josh Altman (6/15/2006)
Nick Kabat (10/14/2014)
Heaney, Gerald William (Minnesota)
Ross, Donald Roe (Nebraska)
Stephenson, Roy Laverne (Iowa)
Robinson, L. Vern (Iowa)
Hronek, Thomas R. (Iowa)
Heaney, Gerald William (Minnesota)
Ross, Donald Roe (Nebraska)
Stephenson, Roy Laverne (Iowa)
Last updated March 30, 2024, 3:11 a.m.
Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.State / Territory: Iowa
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: March 9, 1972
Case Ongoing: No reason to think so
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Involuntary inmates of an Iowa mental institution
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Iowa Security Medical Facility, State
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Order Duration: 1973 - 0
Issues
General:
Informed consent/involuntary medication
Disability and Disability Rights:
Medical/Mental Health:
Type of Facility: