Conservatorship of A.R. CA1/1

BACKGROUND

The Public Guardian of Contra Costa County (Public Guardian) filed a petition to conserve A.R. in March 2021.2 The probate court appointed the Public Guardian as A.R.’s temporary conservator that day and empowered the Public Guardian to place A.R. in a locked facility and make medication and treatment decisions on his behalf. At the trial six months later, the only witness was Jennifer Weinstein, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist who testified as an expert in psychology and grave disability. Dr. Weinstein interviewed A.R. at the Villa Fairmont, the facility where he was placed, in August 2021. She also reviewed A.R.’s medical records from Villa Fairmont (Exhibit 4), Fremont Hospital (Exhibit 2), and John George, a psychiatric inpatient facility in Alameda (Exhibit 3), and she relied on those records in forming her opinions. Dr. Weinstein diagnosed A.R. with schizophrenia. She explained schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by “perceptual disturbances which are symptoms that we call delusions and hallucinations.”

“The Lanterman–Petris–Short Act . . . , Welfare and Institutions Code sections 5000 et seq., governs involuntary treatment of the mentally ill…