Title 40.1, Title 40.1 Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals

There is hereby created the office of mental health advocate.

The governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint a member of the bar of this state who has been practicing law for at least five (5) years to fill the office of the mental health advocate. The appointment shall be made from a list of at least three (3) perso…

The mental health advocate may appoint assistants as may be deemed necessary whose powers and duties shall be similar to those imposed upon the mental health advocate by law and shall be performed under and by the advice and direction of the mental health advocate.

The general assembly shall annually appropriate such sums as it may deem necessary for the payment of the salaries of such clerical assistance as may be deemed necessary and for the payment of office expenses and other actual expenses incurred by the mental health advocate in the…

If the mental health advocate, after examination and investigation of a financial statement of a person subject to the provisions of this chapter, is satisfied that the person submitting the financial statement is indigent, the mental health advocate or one of his or her assistan…

The mental health advocate, his or her assistants, and every employee of his or her office are hereby expressly prohibited from divulging to any individual not officially connected with his or her office any information obtained by the mental health advocate, his or her assistant…

Whoever knowingly makes a false statement or representation to the mental health advocate, his or her assistants, or any employee of his or her office to obtain the legal services of the mental health advocate or one of his or her assistants under this chapter, either for him or …

Whenever used in this chapter, or in any order, rule, or regulation made or promulgated pursuant to this chapter, or in any printed forms prepared by the department or the director, unless otherwise expressly stated, or unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: (1)…

Any client represented by the mental health advocate, or his or her assistants, under the provisions of this chapter shall not be required to pay any fees to the district, superior, family, or supreme courts or the clerks thereof, or any fees or charges for the services or travel…

The mental health advocate shall annually submit to the governor, the director, and the general assembly a detailed report analyzing the work of his or her office and any recommendations resulting therefrom.

The mental health advocate shall perform the following duties: (1) Ensure that each person in treatment and, in proper cases, others interested in the person’s welfare, is apprised of his or her rights under this chapter. (2) Review periodically the procedures established by faci…

The mental health advocate shall have access to the following information: (1) The names of all persons in treatment, and the date and place where treatment was begun, unless the patient specifically objects in writing. The patient shall be informed of his or her right to so obje…

The mental health advocate shall have the following rights and powers: (1) To communicate privately by mail or orally with any person in treatment. (2) To inspect all records relating to persons in treatment provided that the person in treatment or his or her guardian gives writt…

The mental health advocate shall have the power to apply for and accept grants and bequests of funds from other states, governmental agencies, and independent authorities, and private firms, individuals, and foundations, with the approval of the director of administration. The fu…

Personnel of the mental health advocate’s office shall be restricted in their use of confidential information by the applicable provisions of this chapter.

(a) The fact of admission or certification, and all information and records compiled, obtained, or maintained in the course of providing services to persons under this chapter, shall be confidential. (b) Information and records may be disclosed only: (1) To any person, with the w…

Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the release of information to a patient’s attorney, his or her guardian or conservator, if any, or a member of the patient’s family the information that the person is presently a patient in the facility or that the person is seriously physic…

(a) Notwithstanding §§ 40.1-5-26 and 40.1-5-27, a mental health professional providing care and treatment to an adult person with a psychiatric disability as defined in § 40.1-5-2(13) may provide certain information to a family member or other person if this family member or othe…

When disclosure is necessary for the protection of the patient or others due to his or her unauthorized disappearance from the facility, and his or her whereabouts is unknown, notice of the disappearance, along with relevant information, shall be made to relatives and governmenta…

(a) When any disclosure of information or records is made, the physician in charge of the patient or the professional person in charge of the facility, or their designee, shall promptly cause to be entered into the patient’s medical record the date and circumstances under which t…

(a) The state department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals is charged with the execution of the laws relating to the admission and custody of the mentally disabled. (b) Under the direction of the state director of behavioral healthcare, developmen…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the compilation and publication of anonymous statistical data for use by government or researchers under standards.

Facilities under the jurisdiction, supervision, and control of the department shall be maintained, and services shall be provided, for the care and treatment of the psychiatrically disabled of the state and for other persons and related purposes as shall be provided and authorize…

(a) No transfer of a patient already in a facility shall be made to a facility, or section of a facility, maintained for patients certified upon an order of a court or judge having criminal jurisdiction in a proceeding arising out of a criminal offense. The official in charge of …

For the purposes of this chapter, facilities shall be maintained by the state for the care, treatment, and maintenance of the psychiatrically disabled, and the patients may be maintained and treated in the facilities or in foster family care, and may receive the services conditio…

Where under any provision of any existing law, except in the case of a person held under criminal process, or under process of the family court for an act that would be considered a crime if committed by an adult, any person with psychiatric disability, as defined in this chapter…

The director may maintain without charge or defray the expense of care and treatment of such poor or indigent persons as are mentally disabled patients under treatment in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, who may have been admitted or certified to any facility under…

(a) At any hearing hereunder or upon application thereto, the district court, or family court in the case of a patient under eighteen (18) years of age, may appoint guardians ad litem to represent any patient in matters concerning the provisions of this chapter. It shall be the d…

No civil process or notice shall be served upon any patient, unless the officer or person charged with the service shall apply to the physician in charge of the facility, or his or her designated agent, where the patient is confined, and receive a statement from the physician tha…

Any person who knowingly and willfully conspires with any other person unlawfully to improperly cause to be admitted or certified to any facility any person not covered by the provisions of this chapter, shall on conviction therefor, be fined not exceeding five thousand dollars (…

Any person who willfully withholds from or denies to any person admitted to a facility as defined in this chapter any of his or her rights as granted in this chapter, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000) or imprisoned not exceeding tw…

Unless otherwise herein expressly provided, whenever any duty pursuant hereto devolves upon the director of the state department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals or the director of the state health department, he or she may, in writing, delegate …

Any employee of any facility who shall deny to or withhold from any patient any right granted him or her by this chapter shall, independently of the above criminal sanctions, be subject to such disciplinary action as the officer in charge shall see fit to impose, after notice, a …

Any employee who has reasonable cause to believe that an assault or a battery has been committed upon a patient shall make an immediate report, including the identity of parties and witnesses and details of the incident, to the director of the department of behavioral healthcare,…

Any person, who, in good faith, makes a report pursuant to § 40.1-5-40.1, excluding any perpetrator or conspirator of the acts, shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might be incurred as a result of having made the report.

Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to contravene the provisions of § 5-37-14, and no physician or surgeon licensed to practice in this state, having met the requirements either of the statute or of this chapter, shall be made to answer in any court for his or her participat…

If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part of this chapter shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence,…

Nothing contained in this chapter shall affect or impair the validity of any act done or right accruing, accrued, or acquired, or any order, judgment, or status established prior to January 1, 1975. As to any person admitted or certified pursuant to the provisions of the law prio…

(a) Admissions. Any person who is in need of care and treatment in a facility, as herein defined, may be admitted or certified, received, and retained as a patient in a facility by complying with any one of the following admission procedures applicable to the case: (1) Voluntary …

(a)(1) General. Any individual of lawful age may apply for voluntary admission to any facility provided for by this law seeking care and treatment for alleged psychiatric disability. The application shall be in writing, signed by the applicant in the presence of at least one witn…

(a) Applicants. Any physician or licensed advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) as defined in § 40.1-5-2 who, after examining a person, has reason to believe that the person is in need of immediate care and treatment, and is one whose continued unsupervised presence in the co…

(a) Any police officer may take an individual into protective custody and take or cause the person to be taken to an emergency room of any hospital, by way of emergency vehicle, if the officer has reason to believe that: (1) The individual is in need of immediate care and treatme…

(a) Petitions. A verified petition may be filed in the district court, or family court in the case of a person who has not reached their eighteenth (18th) birthday, for the certification to a facility of any person who is alleged to be in need of care and treatment in a facility,…

(a) Any person who is a patient in a facility pursuant to this chapter shall have a right to receive the care and treatment that is necessary for and appropriate to the condition for which he or she was admitted or certified and from which he or she can reasonably be expected to …