Right to counsel
Absent express authority through the “order of appointment or after subsequent hearing and order of the court”, a guardian does not have the power “[t]o consent to … sterilization … except to preserve the life or prevent the immediate serious impairment of the physical health of the incapacitated individual[.]” D.C. Code § 21-2047.01.
Pursuant to D.C. Code Ann. § 21-2041, the respondent to a guardianship petition has the right to counsel:
After the filing of a petition, the court shall set a date for hearing on the issue of incapacity so that notice may be given as required by section 21-2042 and, unless the allegedly incapacitated individual is represented by counsel, the court shall appoint an attorney to represent the individual in the proceeding.
(emphasis added). This right presumably attaches then to hearings in which a guardian seeks the power to consent to the sterilization of the alleged incapacitated or protected person.
