Cal. Advocates for Nursing Home Reform v. Smith

*644 *849 I. INTRODUCTION

Health and Safety Code section 1418.8 ( section 1418.8 ) sets forth procedures to be followed for nursing home residents who lack capacity to make their own health care decisions. Most of the affected residents are elderly, many are poor, and all may be described as "unbefriended" in the sense they are without family members, friends or other legal surrogates to make health care decisions for them. The statute requires an interdisciplinary team (IDT) approach to decisionmaking for these residents.

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), a nonprofit entity advocating for the rights of nursing home patients, together with a nursing home resident and a taxpayer (collectively, petitioners), challenged the constitutionality of section 1418.8 under the California Constitution by a petition for writ of mandate against the Director of the Department of Public Health (Department), a position now held by Dr. Karen Smith (Director).

The superior court issued an order holding section 1418.8 unconstitutional in three respects, one on its face and two as applied: It held the statute (1) on *850 its face, violates due process under the California…