IN RE: V.G. (2019)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 1:28

The appellant, V.G., was involuntarily committed to Westwood Lodge Hospital pursuant to G. L. c. 123, §§ 7, 8. A separate order authorized the administration of antipsychotic medication to V.G. pursuant to G. L. c. 123, § 8B. V.G. appealed these orders to the Appellate Division of the District Court. By the time of the hearing in the appeal, V.G. had been discharged from Westwood Lodge Hospital. The Appellate Division concluded that the matter was moot and dismissed the appeal. This appeal followed.

After this appeal was entered on our docket, the Supreme Judicial Court clarified that appeals from commitment and treatment orders are not rendered moot simply because those orders have expired or terminated. Matter of F.C., 479 Mass. 1029, 1029-1030 (2018). The Appellate Division did not have the benefit of this holding at the time it dismissed V.G.'s appeal. Accordingly, the decision and order of the Appellate Division is vacated, and the matter is remanded for consideration of the underlying merits of V.G.'s appeal.²

So ordered.

Vacated.

FOOTNOTES

2.   We decline V.G.'s invitation to reach the underlying merits of the appeal.