Title 44, Health

Any individual, legally a resident of this State, ordered to be admitted to any mental health facility under the laws of any other state, may be admitted, upon satisfactory proof of residence, to care and treatment in any State mental health facility of this State. The orders of …

Unless he was admitted pursuant to the Interstate Compact on Mental Health as set out in Section 44-25-20 or a supplementary agreement thereto, if any person admitted to a State mental health facility is not a citizen of this State, the superintendent of the facility concerned sh…

If any person admitted to a State mental health facility is not a citizen of the United States, the superintendent of the facility concerned shall immediately notify the Office of Mental Health of the name of the person and all ascertainable information as to race, nativity, date…

If a mentally ill patient from an out-of-State mental health facility is found to be in this State without permission and upon satisfactory identification of the patient and the request of such facility that the patient be returned, he may be taken into custody by proper public o…

The Office of Mental Health shall investigate the case of each patient or trainee in a State mental health facility who is simply mentally or physically infirm or who is a harmless mental defective or harmless epileptic. When, in the opinion of the Office of Mental Health, the fa…

The judge of probate in each county shall keep an adequate supply of forms necessary for the admission or commitment of persons under this chapter, Chapter 9, Chapter 11, Article 1 of Chapter 15, Chapter 17, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 27, and Chapter 52.

Any county, city, town, political subdivision, or any combination thereof, of over one hundred thousand population, and upon consent of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, any city, county, town, or political subdivision, or combination thereof, wi…

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities may, when funds are available for such purposes, make grants to assist counties, cities, towns, political subdivisions or any combinations thereof, or any nonprofit corporation, in the establishment and operation …

Any county, city, town, political subdivision, nonprofit corporation or community mental health board administering a mental health services program may apply for the assistance provided by this article by submitting annually to the Department of Behavioral Health and Development…

At the beginning of each fiscal year the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities shall allocate available funds to the mental health programs for disbursement during the fiscal year in accordance with such approved plans and budgets. The department shall, f…

Grants may be made for expenditures for mental health services whether provided by operation of a local facility or through contract with other public or private agencies or individual persons.

Every county, city, town, or political subdivision, or combination of them, establishing a community mental health services program, before it may come within this article, shall establish a community mental health board to be made up of not less than seven nor more than fifteen …

Subject to the provisions of this article and the rules and regulations of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, each community mental health board shall: (1) Be the administrative agency for the community mental health services program; and it shall…

In addition to the powers and duties already conferred by law, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities shall: (1) Promulgate rules and regulations governing the eligibility of community mental health programs to receive State grants, prescribing standar…

If any balances of appropriations for the program authorized by this article are unexpended during any fiscal year, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities may carry such balances forward to the next fiscal year; provided, that not more than five per ce…

If in the judgment of the director of a state hospital the person is a proper subject for voluntary admission, the director of the hospital shall admit for treatment an individual who is eighteen years of age or over and applies for admission.

The superintendent of a hospital shall discharge any voluntary patient who has recovered or whose detention he determines to be no longer advisable.

A voluntary patient who requests to be discharged or whose discharge is requested, in writing, by the patient's parent or legal guardian or other interested person must be discharged, except that: (1) if the patient was admitted on the patient's own application and the request fo…

At the time of his admission to the hospital and once during the first six months of hospitalization and annually thereafter a voluntary patient shall be informed in writing of his right to release. The patient's spouse, parent, legal guardian or other interested person shall als…

A person may be admitted to a public or private hospital, mental health clinic, or mental health facility for emergency admission upon: (1) written affidavit under oath by a person stating: (a) a belief that the individual is a person with a mental illness as defined in Section 4…

Any certification for an emergency admission of a person fifty-five years of age or older who, at the time of the petition, is a patient in a hospital or a resident of a nursing care facility pursuant to Section 44-17-410 must be accompanied by the results of the most recent phys…

At least five days before the hearing scheduled by the court pursuant to Section 44-17-410(3), the clerk or other officer of the probate court shall give written notice of the hearing to the person, his counsel, the applicant, and other interested persons. The notice must include…

If a person believed to be mentally ill and because of this condition likely to cause serious harm if not immediately hospitalized cannot be examined by at least one licensed physician pursuant to Section 44-17-410 because the person's whereabouts are unknown or for any other rea…

(A) The certificate required by Section 44-17-410, emergency admission, must authorize and require a state or local law enforcement officer, preferably in civilian clothes and preferably with crisis intervention training, to take into custody and transport the person to the hospi…

The Office of Mental Health, in conjunction with its local mental health centers acting as the preadmission facilities, must develop and maintain a preadmission screening and evaluation service for all psychiatric emergencies at the local community level utilizing available local…

Prior to the emergency admission of any person to a psychiatric facility of the Office of Mental Health, the person must be examined by a licensed physician. The physician must inform the mental health center in the county where the person resides or where the examination takes p…

Proceedings for involuntary hospitalization by judicial procedure may be commenced by filing a written petition with the probate court of the county where he is present or where he is a resident by any interested person or the superintendent of any public or private mental instit…

Upon receipt of a petition the court shall give notice thereof to the proposed patient, to his legal guardian, if any, and to any other interested person. This notice shall also indicate the proposed patient's right to counsel.

Within three days after the petition for judicial commitment set forth in Section 44-17-510 is filed, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, the court shall appoint counsel to represent the person if counsel has not been retained and the court shall appoint two desi…

If the report of the two designated examiners, other than the independent designated examiner, is to the effect that they are of the opinion that the person is not mentally ill to the extent that involuntary treatment is required, the court shall terminate the proceedings and dis…

Notice of the hearing must be given to the person, his counsel, and other interested persons at least five days before the hearing. Notice must include the time, date, and place of the hearing, the underlying facts, and the standards under which the person is sought to be committ…

The individual shall have the right to demand removal of the proceedings to any other county of the State when the convenience of the witnesses and the ends of justice so require. When the place of the proceedings is changed all other proceedings shall be had in the county to whi…

All persons to whom notice is required may appear at the hearing, testify and, within the discretion of the court, present and cross-examine witnesses and the court may receive the testimony of any other person. The court may exclude all persons not necessary for the conduct of t…

(A) If, upon completion of the hearing and consideration of the record, the court finds upon clear and convincing evidence that the person is mentally ill, needs involuntary treatment and because of his condition: (1) lacks sufficient insight or capacity to make responsible decis…

Any individual with respect to whom such order of hospitalization has been issued shall not be admitted to any public or private mental health facility or hospital on the basis thereof at any time after the expiration of thirty days following the date of the judicial order, unles…

Upon request by the individual, his relatives, spouse or guardian and agreement by the superintendent of the hospital concerned, the court may order the hospitalization of the patient in any private, county, Veterans' Administration or other suitable institution. Neither the Stat…

The petitioner or the person shall have the right to appeal from any order of the probate court issued pursuant to Section 44-17-580 to the court of common pleas of the county where the probate court is situated. The notice of intention to appeal together with the grounds for the…

A patient is entitled to a reexamination on the patient's own petition or that of any other interested person to the probate court of the county from which the patient was admitted. The treatment facility shall inform every patient and at least one other interested person of this…

If any person ordered to be admitted to an institution pursuant to this chapter, Chapter 9, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, Article 1 of Chapter 15, Chapter 17, and Chapter 27, is eligible for institutional care or treatment by any agency of the United States, the court, upon receipt of …

Monies appropriated to implement the provisions of this article may be paid to a state employee if the employee is not performing his duties as a state employee and is not a full-time state employee.

Unless in the opinion of the attending physician a person is incapable of caring for himself once released or discharged from a mental health facility, he shall be released or discharged upon his own recognizance. No other party shall sign for his release or discharge unless that…

It shall be unlawful for any person, without prior authorization from the patient's attending physician, to take or cause to be taken any patient away from the grounds of any facility under the jurisdiction of the Office of Mental Health. Any person violating the provisions of th…

If any person involuntarily committed to a facility under the jurisdiction of the Office of Mental Health is absent without proper authorization, the office shall immediately notify by telephone the appropriate state and local law enforcement officials of such absence. Such notic…

If a patient involuntarily committed to a facility under the jurisdiction of the Office of Mental Health is absent without proper authorization, a state or local law enforcement officer or employee of the office appointed pursuant to Section 44-11-70, upon the request of the faci…

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, no person with respect to whom proceedings for judicial confinement have been commenced shall be granted leave of absence, or discharged during the pendency of such proceedings unless ordered by the court upon the application …

Neither the superintendent of a mental health facility nor any other person legally participating in the release or discharge of a patient shall be liable either civilly or criminally on account of such participation.