Title 53, Title 53

Patients have a right to be free from physical restraint and isolation. Except for emergency situations in which it is likely that patients could harm themselves or others and in which less restrictive means of restraint are not feasible, patients may be physically restrained or …

(1) Patients have a right not to be subjected to experimental research without the express and informed consent of the patient, if the patient is able to give consent, and of the patient's guardian, if any, and the friend of respondent appointed by the court after opportunities f…

Patients have a right not to be subjected to treatment procedures such as lobotomy, adversive reinforcement conditioning, or other unusual or hazardous treatment procedures without their express and informed consent after consultation with counsel, the legal guardian, if any, the…

(1) If the court orders a disposition under 53-21-127(3)(a)(ii), the court may order the following conditions for treatment in a community facility or program or may order a course of treatment, including but not limited to: (a) following a treatment plan developed pursuant to 53…

(1) Stabilizing treatment must be provided during the development of a treatment plan. (2) If the court orders a treatment plan under this section as a condition of a commitment for treatment in a community facility, program, or course of treatment, the chief medical officer of t…

(1) If the respondent has been ordered to follow a treatment plan and the respondent does not substantially comply with the treatment plan developed pursuant to the order for treatment pursuant to a commitment to a community facility or program or course of treatment, the chief m…

The department shall develop a separate funding category and procedure for payment for services that are court-ordered for a commitment to a community facility or program or course of treatment. However, nothing in this chapter obligates the department to pay for services ordered…

(1) (a) An individual may be placed in a mental health facility as defined in 53-21-102 or a crisis stabilization facility as described in 53-21-1403 for a period up to 72 hours at the written request of a mental health professional as defined in 53-21-102 if the individual, as a…

Before September 1 of each even-numbered year, the department of public health and human services shall report to the children, families, health, and human services interim committee in accordance with 5-11-210. The report must include the following information: (1) the number of…

In every mental health facility to which a person is admitted pursuant to this part: (1) each professional person and other staff member employed by the facility shall meet all certification requirements promulgated by the department; (2) all nonprofessional staff members who hav…

(1) Each patient admitted as an inpatient to a mental health facility must have a comprehensive physical and mental examination and review of behavioral status within 48 hours after admission to the mental health facility, except as provided in 53-21-1206. (2) Each patient must h…

Within 30 days after a patient is committed to a mental health facility, the professional person in charge of the facility or the professional person's appointed, professionally qualified agent shall reexamine the committed patient and shall determine whether the patient continue…

Complete patient records must be kept by the mental health facility for the length of time required by rules established by the department. All records kept by the mental health facility must be available to any person authorized by the patient in writing to receive these records…

All information obtained and records prepared in the course of providing any services under this part to individuals under any provision of this part are confidential and privileged matter and must remain confidential and privileged after the individual is discharged from the fac…

The following rules govern patient labor: (1) A patient may not be required to perform labor that involves the operation and maintenance of a facility or for which the facility is under contract with an outside organization. Privileges or release from the facility may not be cond…

Each patient shall promptly upon admission receive in language the patient understands a written statement of all of the patient's rights under this part, including the right to treatment, the right to the development of a treatment plan, the right to and the availability of lega…

(1) A protection and advocacy system for individuals with a significant mental illness or emotional impairment is designated by the governor and may be administered in the state under the provisions of 42 U.S.C. 10801 through 10851. An eligible mental health protection and advoca…

Each patient admitted as an inpatient to a mental health facility must have an individualized discharge plan developed within 10 days after admission. The discharge plan must be updated as necessary. Each individualized discharge plan must contain: (1) an anticipated discharge da…

(1) (a) At any time within the period of commitment provided for in 53-21-127, the patient may be discharged on the written order of the professional person in charge of the patient without further order of the court. (b) If the patient is not discharged within the period of comm…

At any time during the patient's commitment, the court may, on its own initiative or upon application of the professional person in charge of the patient, the patient, the patient's next of kin, the patient's attorney, a third party responsible for payment for the care of the pat…

(1) When, in the opinion of the professional person in charge of a mental health facility providing involuntary treatment, the committed person can be appropriately served by outpatient care prior to the expiration of the period of commitment, then outpatient care may be required…

The release and discharge provisions of this part shall not apply to any patient held upon an order of court or judge in a proceeding arising out of a criminal act.

The department and its agents have an affirmative duty to provide adequate transitional treatment and care for all patients released after a period of involuntary confinement. Transitional care and treatment possibilities include but are not limited to psychiatric day care, treat…

When a mental health facility conditionally releases a patient committed to its care, it is not liable for the patient's support while conditionally released. Liability transfers to the legal guardian, parent, or person under whose care the patient is placed when conditionally re…

A patient may not be discharged or conditionally released from a mental health facility without suitable clothing adapted to the season in which the patient is discharged.

No person who has received evaluation or treatment under any of the provisions of this part may be discriminated against because of that status. For purposes of this section, "discrimination" means giving any unfavorable weight to the fact of hospitalization or outpatient care an…

The fact that a person has received evaluation and treatment, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, at a mental health facility may not be admitted into evidence in a subsequent proceeding for involuntary commitment or for the appointment of a guardian or conservator unless it is…

(1) If a respondent is committed to the state hospital under 53-21-127, or if a person in an emergency situation requires detention under 53-21-129, and a bed is available at a community facility, a category D assisted living facility, a community program, an appropriate course o…

(1) The department may license behavioral health inpatient facilities to provide inpatient psychiatric care to persons involuntarily committed or detained under this title or to persons seeking treatment voluntarily. (2) The department shall adopt rules: (a) governing the qualifi…

(1) A proceeding for the rehospitalization of a patient conditionally released from an inpatient mental health facility pursuant to 53-21-182 or 53-21-183 is commenced by the filing of a written petition in any district court by the county attorney, the professional person in cha…

The court may not order detention of the conditionally released patient pending the hearing, except as permitted under 53-21-124.

(1) The court may order that the patient's conditional release status be revoked and that the patient be returned to the mental health facility from which the patient was conditionally released or be sent to another appropriate inpatient mental health facility if, after a hearing…

(1) (a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (1)(b), conditions of release may be extended by the district court beyond the expiration date of the order committing the patient under 53-21-127 or 53-21-128, but in no case for longer than 2 years beyond that date, upon a showing…

(1) It is the intent of the legislature to divert individuals from all forms of involuntary commitment. When it is not possible to divert an individual from involuntary commitment, it is the intent of the legislature that commitment to the Montana state hospital serves as a last …

(1) It is the intent of the legislature that geriatric patients at the Montana state hospital and geriatric residents of the state who may be at risk of commitment to the Montana state hospital and who do not need intensive psychiatric care receive care and treatment in nursing h…

The department: (1) shall contract with nonprofit corporations that demonstrate expertise in and the capability of providing rehabilitative and restorative programs for aged citizens for the operation and management of nursing homes established under this part; (2) shall ensure t…

To accomplish the intent of 53-21-401(4), the legislature directs the department to: (1) by June 30, 2025, develop and implement a plan to ensure the availability of community-based services for individuals with a primary diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, other forms of dementia,…

Funds appropriated to the department for the operation of the Montana state hospital may be used for carrying out the purposes of 53-21-403 if: (1) Montana state hospital patients are transferred to a community-based nursing home or other community setting that results in lower e…

For the biennium beginning July 1, 2023, the department may spend up to $9 million a year to place individuals with a primary diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, other forms of dementia, or traumatic brain injury in a community setting rather than at the Montana state hospital when…

(1) The institution located at Lewistown is the Montana mental health nursing care center. The primary function of the center is the care and treatment of persons with mental disorders who require nursing care. Priority must be given to patients referred from the Montana state ho…

(1) The superintendent of the Montana mental health nursing care center may authorize the discharge of a patient residing at the center according to rules adopted by the department of public health and human services. Rules adopted by the department governing discharge from the c…

(1) The Montana mental health nursing care center may admit patients on a voluntary basis according to admission criteria and procedures established in administrative rules and by involuntary commitment pursuant to 53-21-127(3)(a)(iii). (2) A patient involuntarily committed to th…

An individual who is under 18 years of age may not be voluntarily admitted or committed by a court to the Montana state hospital unless an information has been filed in district court pursuant to 41-5-206.

(1) Each September and March, the department shall measure factors, specific to a point in time, for children receiving targeted case management services in the state-funded children's mental health system to determine the effect of the services on the likelihood the children wil…

(1) The facility providing mental health care services at Warm Springs, Montana, is the Montana state hospital and as its primary function provides care and treatment of mentally ill persons. (2) (a) The Montana state hospital is a mental health facility, as defined in 53-21-102,…

(1) There is a Montana chemical dependency treatment center. The Montana chemical dependency treatment center is the approved public treatment facility as defined in 53-24-103. (2) The Montana chemical dependency treatment center shall provide detoxification, evaluation, treatmen…