Incomplete Public Guardian Report

It would be inimical to the policy undergirding the LPS Act to allow a court to proceed on an incomplete Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5354 report. Such would be tantamount to "extrinsic fraud" so egregious as to rise to the level of a denial of due process. In LPS proceedings, the Public Guardian has fundamental interests (individualized treatment, supervision, and placement) of their own that may diverge from the interests of the patient. Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5350.1. The centrality of the issue of grave disability at the P-con hearing brings with it the heightened severity of consequences that can result from an erroneous decision; an "unbroken and indefinite period of state-sanctioned confinement” authorized by Welf & I C §§ 5352.1, 5361. (Roulet, supra, 23 Cal.3d at p. 224) or premature discharge to the streets in an acute psychotic state rendering them unable to care for food clothing or shelter. The public vests a unique obligation of trust and confidence that the Public Guardian has in preparing a proper report for the P-con hearing. Subpar work by the Public Guardian violates the obligation of trust &confidence that patients and treatment advocates vest in them during P-con proceedings as they should be able to view the Public Guardian as a "champion” in the court for appropriate treatment and all be able to place faith in its expert analysis of grave disability and appropriateness of LPS conservatorship. The party who really suffers most due process violation when the Public Guardian submits a wholly inadequate report, is the patient. By failing to provide the information required by § 5354, it not only destroyed the evidentiary foundation for an accurate determination of current grave disability, but deprived patient of the assistance of fully informed counsel. Under such circumstances just as the suppression of information material to guilt or innocence in a criminal trial violates the due process right of the defendant to a fair trial (Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83), the Public Guardian violates a patient's due process right to a fair P- con hearing.