IN RE: COMMITMENT OF K.S. (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Statement of the Case

[1] K.S. appeals her involuntary regular commitment to St. Vincent Hospital and Health Care Center, Inc. d/b/a St. Vincent Stress Center (“St. Vincent”). K.S. presents one issue for our review: Whether St. Vincent presented sufficient evidence to support her commitment.

[2] We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[3] In late February 2025, K.S. left her home in Indiana and travelled to Illinois in order to “get out from under” her sister's guardianship of her,¹ Tr. Vol. II at 39, and to escape alleged harassment and stalking. Believing the harassment and stalking had followed her to Illinois, K.S. proceeded to travel through several western states before deciding to return to Indiana. While driving through Illinois, K.S. “pulled off to the side of the road” and later awoke to “people pounding on [her] window.” Id. at 55. An ambulance was called, and K.S. agreed to be temporarily committed at a facility in Chicago. By March 22, K.S. was back at her Indiana home. On March 27, K.S. was admitted to St. Vincent due to “aspirating symptoms of psychosis,” which included K.S. becoming “increasingly more delusional” and experiencing “a variety of fixed delusional beliefs that were similar to previous hospitalizations.” Tr. Vol. II at 24. On April 9, St. Vincent sought a regular commitment order.²

[4] At the evidentiary hearing on St. Vincent's commitment petition, Dr. Erika Cornett, a board-certified adult psychiatrist with St. Vincent, testified that this is her second time treating K.S., and K.S. has had schizoaffective disorder for more than 15 years. According to Dr. Cornett, K.S. believes “that people were experimenting on her.” Tr. Vol. II at 24. For example, K.S. believes that “Mayor Joe Hogsett and Randy Tobias ․ come into her home and do research on her or try to harvest embryos from her.” Id. at 24–25. K.S. also “believes that [St. Vincent staff] are doing experiments on her ․, treating her like a hospital cat[,] as she described it.” Id. at 25. Dr. Cornett also testified that K.S. believes “that people are not who they say they are, that her sister and brother [were] not who they said they were, that her brother was six inches taller than she remembered”; K.S requested medical staff “get blood tests from [her siblings] to confirm their identity.” Id. Dr. Cornett stated that she had not “seen any significant improvement” in K.S. since she was admitted to St. Vincent on March 27, id. at 36; K.S.’s “judgment is impaired” by her delusions and the decisions she makes in response thereto, id. at 29; K.S. “does not believe that she has a psychiatric illness or should be on any medicines,” id. at 28; and K.S.’s prognosis is “very poor” if she does not comply with medication, id. at 29.

[5] K.S. testified that she had “been stalked by Paul SerVaas for forty-two years,” and she went to Illinois in February 2025 because of “harassment and the stalking.” Tr. Vol. II at 43. According to K.S., SerVaas has “access to his father's toys from when he was a mole in the CIA and his sisters a CIA screws and he's got access to their toys,” and he “has laced [her] up along with Randy Tobias and they use telemetry against [her] with ․ illegal modalities of administering national drug code drugs as well as narcotics to” her. Id. at 43–44. K.S. stated that “people in influence and substance in Indianapolis want [her] dead,” including “Randall Tobias, Joseph Hogsett and the SerVaas children of Beurt SerVaas.” Id. at 48. K.S. had previously flooded her home, which she claimed “was part of a gaslighting and an embryo **INDECIPHERABLE** when five people invaded [her] house” and stayed for several months. Id. at 57. K.S. testified that she is “not mentally ill, [she is] just a Medicaid buy in that they want dead,” id. at 59, and that if she was not under any type of commitment, she would not take prescription medications for her schizophrenia.

[6] The trial court found that K.S. was gravely disabled and granted the regular commitment. This appeal ensued.

Discussion and Decision

St. Vincent Presented Sufficient Evidence to Support K.S.’s Commitment

[7] K.S. challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support her commitment. “On sufficiency review, we will affirm a civil commitment order if—considering only the probative evidence and reasonable inferences favorable to the judgment—a reasonable factfinder could have found the necessary statutory elements proven by clear and convincing evidence.” J.F. v. St. Vincent Hosp. & Health Care Ctr., Inc., 256 N.E.3d 1260, 1270 (Ind. 2025) (citing T.K. v. Dep't of Veterans Affs., 27 N.E.3d 271, 273 (Ind. 2015)). We will not reweigh the evidence or reassess witness credibility. Id. (citing T.K., 27 N.E.3d at 273).

[8] A petitioner seeking an involuntary commitment must prove by “clear and convincing evidence” both that (1) the individual “is mentally ill and either dangerous or gravely disabled” and (2) commitment “is appropriate.” Ind. Code § 12-26-2-5(e). K.S. asserts there was not clear and convincing evidence that she was gravely disabled.³ “Gravely disabled” means

a condition in which an individual, as a result of mental illness, is in danger of coming to harm because the individual:

(1) is unable to provide for that individual's food, clothing, shelter, or other essential human needs; or

(2) has a substantial impairment or an obvious deterioration of that individual's judgment, reasoning, or behavior that results in the individual's inability to function independently.

Id. § 12-7-2-96.

[9] K.S. maintains that she is able to take care of herself and function independently and is thus not gravely disabled. This argument amounts to a request to reweigh the evidence and reassess witness credibility, which we cannot do, see J.F., 256 N.E.3d at 1270 (citing T.K., 27 N.E.3d at 273). Both Dr. Cornett's testimony and K.S.’s own testimony showed that K.S. has a substantial impairment or an obvious deterioration in her judgment, reasoning, or behavior. K.S. does not accept her diagnosis and refuses prescribed medication. Dr. Cornett testified that K.S. has a “very poor” prognosis if she is not properly medicated and that K.S.’s delusions and paranoia are dangerous because K.S.’s “judgment is impaired based on ․ the fact that she is making choices and decisions based on her delusional belief.” Tr. Vol. II at 29. This evidence shows that, as a result of her mental illness, K.S. cannot function independently. Accordingly, St. Vincent presented sufficient evidence to show that K.S. is gravely disabled, and the trial court did not err when it ordered K.S. regularly committed. See, e.g., F.L. v. Cmty. Fairbanks Behavioral Health, 245 N.E.3d 1033, 1035–36 (Ind. Ct. App.) (affirming a finding of grave disability where delusional patient believed she talked to aliens, refused medication, and did not maintain basic hygiene), trans. denied sub nom. Commitment of F.L., 245 N.E.3d 1013 (Ind. 2024). We therefore affirm the trial court's commitment decision.

[10] Affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

1.   In July 2024, K.S.’s sister was appointed as K.S.’s guardian.

2.   A regular commitment is for a period expected to be more than 90 days, Ind. Code § 12-26-7-3(a)(2)(B), whereas a temporary commitment is for a period of not more than 90 days, id. § 12-26-6-1.

3.   K.S. does not argue that she is not mentally ill or that commitment is not appropriate.

Felix, Judge.

Brown, J., and Scheele, J., concur.