Title 10 — Health and Safety

As used in this Chapter, unless the context requires otherwise: (a) Department means the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center and Director means the Director of the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center. (b) Facility means a public or privately operated institution ope…

The provisions of this Chapter shall be carried out with the utmost consideration for the privacy and dignity of the person who undergoes involuntary evaluation or treatment. For all purposes under this Chapter, the determination of issues of fact before the court shall be as fol…

Hospitalization. (a) A qualified mental health professional shall perform an examination of any person alleged to have a mental illness and who as a result thereof is a danger to self, a danger to others or gravely disabled. (b) A qualified mental health professional shall form a…

Health Professional for Consideration of Involuntary Hospitalization. (a) Any person may bring another to the Department or an emergency room of a hospital for examination by a qualified mental health professional. The person bringing the other for examination must stay with the …

Taken into Custody. (a) At the time a patient is taken into custody for evaluation, or within a reasonable time thereafter, unless a responsible relative or the guardian or conservator of the person is in possession of the patient's personal property, the person taking him into c…

Involuntary Hospitalization by the Court of an Individual Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity Shall be Pursuant to Titles 8 and 9 of the GCA. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 11, 1988). ---------- ARTICLE 3 CERTIFICATION FOR INTENSIVE TREATMENT

(a) If at the end of the 72-hour evaluation period, the individual is still a danger to self, a danger to others or is gravely disabled because of a mental illness, he shall remain in treatment and evaluation at the facility upon the written certification of two qualified mental …

Certification shall be required for any involuntary 28-day intensive treatment. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 11, 1988).

(a) Copies of the certification notice, after having been filed with the Court shall be personally delivered to the patient so certified. A copy shall also be sent to the patient's attorney, to the Attorney General, and to the facility providing intensive treatment. COL622016 (b)…

Release of Involuntary Patient Required. (a) Certification shall be for no more than 28 days, and shall terminate as soon as, in the opinion of the qualified mental health professional staff of the facility providing intensive treatment, the patient has improved suffi- ciently fo…

for More Than 28 Days. Any individual who is knowingly and willfully responsible for detaining a patient for more than 28 days in violation of the provisions of this Chapter shall be liable to that patient for civil damages. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 1…

Professional Staff for Action by Person Released Within the Designated Period. (a) Neither the qualified mental health professional staff of the facility providing intensive treatment, nor the peace officer responsible for the detainment of the person, shall be held civilly or cr…

Periods. Nothing in this Chapter shall prohibit the qualified mental health professional staff from permitting a person certified for intensive treatment to leave the facility for home visits or for short periods for other therapeutic treatment during the person's involuntary int…

Duties of Staff Member; Notices Required. (a) Every person detained by certification for intensive treatment or temporary conservatorship shall have a right to a hearing by writ of habeas COL622016 corpus for his release after he or his attorney has made a request to leave to any…

Release Required. Judicial review shall be by the Superior Court. The court shall grant a writ of habeas corpus or order an evidentiary hearing within two (2) judicial days after the petition is filed. If the court finds that the person requesting release is not, as a result of a…

Proceeding. COL622016 A finding under Section 82402 of this Chapter shall not be admissible in evidence in any civil or criminal proceedings. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 11, 1988).

Detention and Treatment Proceedings. Individuals authorized under this Chapter to detain a person for 72-hour treatment and evaluation pursuant to Article 1 of this Chapter, to certify a person for intensive treatment pursuant to Article 2 of this Chapter, or to file a petition f…

Maximum Additional Period. At the expiration of the 28-day period of intensive treatment, a person may be confined for further treatment pursuant to the provisions of this Article for an additional period, not to exceed 90 days, if he: (a) Has threatened, attempted, or inflicted …

(a) At any time during the 28-day intensive treatment period, the qualified medical professional in charge of the facility may petition the Superior Court for an order requiring the patient to undergo an additional period of treatment on the grounds set forth in Section 82501 of …

(a) The court shall conduct the proceedings on the petition for post certification treatment within four (4) judicial days of the filing of the petition and in accordance with constitutional guarantees of due process of law. (b) If at the time of the hearing the person named in t…

New Petition. If the court finds that the person named in the petition for post-certification treatment has: (a) threatened, attempted or actually inflicted physical harm upon himself or the person of another after having been taken into custody for evaluation and treatment, and,…

Court. COL622016 (a) Nothing in this Chapter shall prohibit the director or qualified mental health professional person in charge of the facility in which the person is being involuntarily treated from releasing him from treatment prior to the expiration of ninety (90) days when …

Released. (a) The qualified mental health professional staff providing ninety (90) days involuntary treatment shall not be held civilly or criminally liable for any action by a person released at or before the end of the ninety (90) day period. (b) If during the ninety (90) days …

and Tagalog. Each person involuntarily detained for evaluation or treatment under the provisions of this Chapter shall have the following rights, a list of which shall be prominently posted in English, Chamorro and Tagalog in all facilities providing such services and otherwise b…

Rights. (a) Except to the extent that a qualified mental health professional determines that it is necessary for the medical welfare of the patient to impose restrictions, every patient shall be entitled: (1) To communicate by sealed mail or otherwise with persons, including offi…

Treatment Records; Information to Be Made Available to Person Detained. A person's rights under § 82601 or § 82602 of this Chapter may be denied for good cause only by the director or qualified mental health professional in charge of the facility. Denial of an involuntarily detai…

Every person involuntarily detained under the provisions of this Chapter for evaluation or treatment in any facility, including a conservatee placed in any facility, shall be entitled to all rights set forth in this Chapter and shall retain all rights unless specifically denied h…

Disclosure Authorized. All information and records obtained in the course of providing service to either voluntary or involuntary recipients of services shall be confidential. Information and records may be disclosed only: (a) In communications between qualified mental health pro…

Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to prohibit the compilation and publication of statistical data for use by government or researchers under standards established by the Attorney General. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 11, 1988). COL622016

Records; Penalty or Treble Damages; Injunction. (a) Any person may bring an action against an individual or agency who has willfully and knowingly released confidential information or records concerning him in violation of the provisions of this Chapter, for the greater of the fo…

Prohibited; Statement of Law to Be Given Person Leaving Facility. No person may be presumed to be incompetent because he has been evaluated or treated for mental illness, regardless of whether such evaluation or treatment was voluntarily or involuntarily received. Any person who …

Mechanical restraints shall not be applied to a patient unless it is determined by the treating qualified mental health professional person to be required by the medical needs of the patient, and the use thereof is approved by the court, or, in the case of an emergency, within 72…

The Government of Guam’s use of restraint or seclusion shall be strictly limited to emergencies when there is imminent risk of an individual physically harming himself or others and nonphysical intervention is not COL622016 effective. This Section applies to all direct care provi…

Exceptions. A conservator of the person, or the estate, or of the person and the estate may be appointed for any person who is gravely disabled as the result of a mental disorder. The procedure for establishing conservatorship under this Chapter shall be the same as that provided…

Investigating Officer; Pleading and Filing Requirements for Temporary Conservatorship. When the qualified mental health professional person in charge of a facility providing evaluation or intensive treatment determines that a person in his care is gravely disabled as a result of …

(a) A temporary conservator under this Chapter shall determine that arrangements are necessary to provide the person with food, shelter, and care pending the determination of conservatorship. He shall give preference to COL622016 arrangements which allow the person to return to h…

The officer providing conservatorship investigation shall investigate all available alternatives to conservatorship and shall recommend conserva- torship to the court only if no suitable alternatives are available. The report to the court shall be comprehensive and shall contain …

The person recommended to serve as conservator shall promptly notify the officer providing conservatorship investigation whether he will accept the position if appointed. If notified that the person or agency recommended will not accept the position if appointed, the officer prov…

Conservator. If the conservatorship investigation results in a recommendation for conservatorship, the recommendation shall designate the most suitable person or agency to serve as a conservator. No person, or agency, shall be designated as conservator whose interest, activities,…

The report of the officer providing conservatorship investigation shall contain his recommendations concerning the powers to be granted to, and the duties to be imposed upon the conservator, and the legal disabilities to be imposed upon the conservatee. The report of the court sh…

All conservators shall have such powers as the Court may designate. The report shall also recommend for or against the imposition of each of the following disabilities on the proposed conservatee: (a) The right to possess and carry firearms. (b) The privilege of possessing a lice…

to Investigating Officer. A conservator appointed pursuant to this Chapter shall have the right, if specified in the court order, to place his conservatee in a medical psychiatric, nursing, or other facility, or a hospital, a United States government hospital, or other non-medica…

Facility. (a) A conservator appointed under this Chapter shall find alternative placement for his conservatee within seven (7) days after he is notified by the qualified mental health professional in charge of the facility serving the conservatee that the conservatee no longer ne…

Conservatees. The Attorney General shall designate by regulation, standards to be followed by the officer providing conservatorship investigation in recommending for or against specific powers and duties of conservators and legal disabilities of conservatees under this Chapter. S…

Conservatorship initiated pursuant to this Chapter shall automatically terminate one (1) year after the appointment of the conservator by the Superior Court. The period of service of a temporary conservator shall not be included in the one-year period. If upon the termination of …

The Clerk of the Superior Court shall notify each conservator, his conservatee and the qualified mental health professional in charge of the facility in which the person resides, and the conservatee's attorney, one (1) month before the termination of the one-year period. Notifica…

Maximum Period; Decree. In the event the conservator continues in good faith to act within the powers granted him in the original decree of conservatorship beyond the one-year period, he may petition for and shall be granted a decree ratifying his acts as conservator beyond the o…

At any time, but not to exceed more than once each three (3) months, the conservatee may petition the Superior Court for a rehearing as to his status as a conservatee. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 11, 1988).

All petitions under this Chapter shall be heard within thirty (30) days and an attorney shall be provided for the conservatee or proposed conservatee. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 11, 1988).

Provisions. Conservatorship established under this Chapter shall supersede any commitment under other provisions of Guam law relating to the mentally ill. SOURCE: Repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-016:1 (Apr. 11, 1988).