Grad sues over involuntary commitment, medical leave

Alum suffered from depression, according to complaint

NEW HAVEN — A 2018 graduate of Yale University has sued Yale, several officials and Yale New Haven Hospital, claiming that she was involuntarily held at the hospital after she admitted herself for depression and that Yale forced her to withdraw from the university.

The female plaintiff, identified as Z.P. of New Jersey, went to see her religious adviser in November 2016 because she was upset about two suicides on campus that fall, according to the complaint. She was then referred to Yale Mental Health and Counseling and then advised to admit herself to Yale New Haven Hospital, according to the lawsuit.

Z.P., a senior who was living on campus at the time, claimed a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Fair Housing Act. She was later reinstated at Yale and graduated in 2018, the lawsuit states.

Her attorney, Robert J. De Groot of Newark, N.J., told the Yale Daily News that Yale forced his client to withdraw because the university was concerned about further publicity after the two suicides. A message was left with De Groot’s office Friday.

Z.P. also named Yale President Peter Salovey, Jonathan Holloway, then Yale College dean and now provost of Northwestern University, Dr. Lorraine Siggins, director of Yale Mental Health and Counseling, and several unnamed employees of Yale and the hospital.

The lawsuit, which has not been served as yet, was filed with the U.S. District Court of New Jersey Nov. 5.

Z.P.’s complaint says she “was disenchanted about

Her attorney, Robert J. De Groot of Newark, N.J., told the Yale Daily News that Yale forced his client to withdraw because the university was concerned about further publicity after the two suicides.

the campus returning to its ‘ business as usual’ atmosphere” after the suicides. When she went to Yale New Haven Hospital, she was told that if she admitted herself, she would meet with “a treatment team” on the next business day but was not told that she could be held involuntarily, the lawsuit states.

The hospital did apply to commit her involuntarily for up to two weeks under a “physician’s emergency certificate,” the court papers state. But when her parents went to Yale Health Center to pick up her papers, there was no such certificate, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit also claims the hospital illegally gave Yale University the plaintiff’s medical information.

While Z.P. was hospitalized, she was placed on medical leave from Yale, effectively withdrawing her from school, her complaint states. “This decision was made despite the Plaintiff’s improved mood and coping skills,” the lawsuit states.

On Nov. 11, Z.P. appealed the decision, calling Yale “a refuge from her stressful home environment” and that leaving Yale “would be less conducive to her recovery,” according to the court documents. In her appeal letter, the plaintiff wrote, “Please let me continue to learn how not to be afraid, continue to grow and become an adult who is strong enough to make a better life for herself. Please let me return to Yale and continue to help myself,” according to the complaint, which states that Holloway denied the appeal Nov. 15, 2016.

In her lawsuit, Z.P. “asserted that she would never physically hurt herself.”

Z.P. was discharged from Yale New Haven on Nov. 17 but “was not permitted to finish the Fall 2016 semester or to start the Spring 2017 semester,” the complaint states. She was unable to graduate with her class, and Yale’s actions “had the effect of ostracizing the Plaintiff from her peer group,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney’s costs and fees.

According to regulations in its online catalog, “Yale College reserves the right to require a student to withdraw for medical reasons when, on recommendation of the director of Yale Health or the chief of the Mental Health and Counseling department, the dean of Yale College determines that the student is a danger to self or others because of a serious medical problem, or that the student has refused to cooperate with efforts deemed necessary by Yale Health to determine if the student is such a danger.”

The catalog says that a student who withdraws for medical reasons “must normally remain away at least one full term before a return to Yale College, not including the term in which the withdrawal occurred.”

Comment has been requested from Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital spokesmen.