Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia

Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia
Court	United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Full case name	Jane Doe, I, by her next friend Linda J. Tarlow, et al., Appellees v. District of Columbia and Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration, Appellants.
Argued	February 6, 2007
Decided	June 12, 2007
Citation	489 F.3d 376
Case history
Prior history	The District Court granted injunctive relief from D.C.'s 2003 statute.
Subsequent history	Remanded to District Court
Holding
Upheld the constitutionality of D.C.'s 2003 statute
Court membership
Judges sitting	Circuit Judge Thomas B. Griffith; Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh; and Senior Circuit Judge Stephen F. Williams

Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia, 489 F.3d 376 (D.C. Cir. 2007), is a unanimous decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, written by Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, in which the Court upheld a 2003 District of Columbia statute that stated the conditions for authorizing a non-emergency surgical procedure on a mentally incompetent person.^[1] This case developed out of an appeal to a district court decision that was brought on behalf of (ex. rel.) a mentally incompetent patient who was subjected to an abortion without her consent and another patient who was subjected to an eye surgery without the patient's consent. Under the appellate court's interpretation of the statute, a court located in the District of Columbia must apply the "best interest of the patient" standard to a person who was never competent, and the court must apply the "known wishes of the patient" standard to a person who was once competent. The appellate decision was remanded to the District Court.