In Re Grad

426 A.2d 467 (1981)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Grady was a 19-year-old mentally impaired woman seriously inflicted with Down's syndrome. She was unable to read words and had moderate success in writing her name. She has some ability to count low numbers, and her conversation often fails to form complete sentences. She plays games, watches television and takes short walks. She can fold laundry and dust, but she cannot select her own clothes but can dress herself. She is able to bathe herself but needs someone to make sure the water is the right temperature. She can open a can of soup but has difficulty controlling the burner temperature. She is often jovial and friendly, and some of her external features identify her as born with Down's syndrome, she is not afflicted with physical ailments and her life expectancy is normal. She has no significant understanding of sexual awareness or marriage. If she became pregnant, she would be unable to make decisions about it. She would not be able to care for a baby by herself. Grady has been on birth control pills for the last four years; The parents want to have her sterilized. The trial judge appointed a guardian ad litem. An argument broke out over the standards the court should apply to authorize sterilization. The judge determined that he would allow the parents to exercise substituted consent for Grady to be sterilized under the doctrine of parens patriae. This involved a five-part test; the subject is incapable of understanding the nature of sexual functions, reproduction, or sterilization, this incompetency is in all likelihood permanent, that the incompetent is presumably not infertile, and not incapable of procreation, that procedural safeguards have been implemented including the appointment of a guardian ad litem and a court proceeding, and that the applicants have demonstrated a genuine good faith concern for the incompetent rather than their own or the public's convenience. This appeal resulted.