Oregon State Hospital discrimination lawsuit put on back burner
Patient's impending release alters strategy for gender-based case
2:16 AM, Mar. 31, 2011
Written by Alan Gustafson
Statesman Journal
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110331/NEWS/103310340/Oregon-State-Hospital-discrimination-lawsuit-put-back-burner?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News (http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110331/NEWS/103310340/Oregon-State-Hospital-discrimination-lawsuit-put-back-burner?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews)
A transgender patient accusing the Oregon State Hospital of gender discrimination and flawed care will wait longer for her day in court.
Complaints brought against OSH by Rebekah Brewis in a habeas corpus case had been scheduled to come before a Marion County judge today and Friday.
But the planned two-day evidentiary hearing was shelved Wednesday, and it appears unlikely to be reset because Brewis is due to be discharged from the Salem psychiatric facility soon, as early as next week.
QuoteIn February, the state Psychiatric Security Review Board granted Brewis a conditional release from the hospital.
In a recent letter to Guimond, a state attorney argued that Brewis' claims did not warrant a hearing in light of her impending discharge.
"I don't want to tie up the court's time and waste valuable state resources by having a hearing on a case that is certain to become moot," wrote Thomas Castle, a state assistant attorney general, in a March 15 letter to the judge.
As I was reading this article, my sympathies were directed, equally to the woman and the staff.
This statement has shifted my sympathy toward the women. Quite simply because she has made a complaint, after the fact. To suggest this is now moot, because the woman is being conditionally discharged is preposterus.