Procedure Upon Admission; Notice of Proposed Discharge

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Mental Health
  4. Hospitalization and Treatment of Alcoholics, Drug Dependent Individuals, and Drug Abusers
  5. Examination, Hospitalization, and Treatment of Involuntary Patients
  6. Emergency Receiving Facilities for Examination of Persons Apprehended Pursuant to Physician's Certificate or Court Order
  7. Procedure Upon Admission; Notice of Proposed Discharge

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  1. A patient who is admitted to an emergency receiving facility shall be examined by a physician as soon thereafter as possible but in any event within 48 hours and may be given such emergency treatment as is indicated by good medical practice. The patient must be discharged within 48 hours of his admission unless:
    1. An examining physician or psychologist concludes that there is reason to believe that the patient may be an alcoholic, a drug dependent individual, or a drug abuser requiring involuntary treatment and executes a certificate to that effect within such time; or
    2. The patient is under criminal charges, notice of which has been given in writing to the facility, in which case the provisions of Code Section 37-7-95 shall apply.

      Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit a physician or psychologist who previously executed a certificate authorized by the provisions of this chapter from executing any other certificate provided for in this chapter for the same or any other patient.

  2. Within 24 hours of the execution of the certificate under paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section, the patient shall be transported, as provided in Code Section 37-7-101, to an evaluating facility where he shall be received pursuant to Code Section 37-7-63 unless the patient has been determined and certified to meet all of the outpatient treatment requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (c) of Code Section 37-7-90, in which event the patient shall be discharged under the conditions provided in Code Section 37-7-91, except that if the patient is under criminal charges, notice of which has been given in writing to the facility, the provisions of Code Section 37-7-95 shall apply.
  3. Notice of any proposed discharge shall be given to the patient and his representatives; if the patient was admitted to the facility under subsection (a) of Code Section 37-7-41, to the physician or psychologist who executed the certificate; if the patient was admitted to the facility under subsection (b) of Code Section 37-7-41, to the court which issued the order; and if the patient was under criminal charges, written notice of which had been given to the facility, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to the law enforcement agency originally having custody of the patient.

(Code 1933, §§ 88-404.8, 88-404.9, enacted by Ga. L. 1971, p. 273, § 1; Ga. L. 1977, p. 1293, § 5; Code 1933, §§ 88-404.4, 88-404.5, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1856, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 937, §§ 2, 10; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1024, § 4; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1098, § 7; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1059, § 30; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1902, § 17; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3.)

Cross references.

- Arrest of persons, T. 17, C. 4.

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 16, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section is applicable with respect to notices delivered on or after July 1, 2000.

Law reviews.

- For survey article on torts, see 34 Mercer L. Rev. 271 (1982). For comment, "1986 Amendments to Georgia's Mental Health Statutes: The Latest Attempt to Provide a Solution to the Problem of the Chronically Mentally Ill," see 36 Emory L.J. 1313 (1987).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Concurring opinion of two physicians is prerequisite to involuntary confinement.

- To justify an individual's involuntary detention or confinement, O.C.G.A. §§ 37-7-41(a) and37-7-43 require a concurring opinion of two physicians that a patient requires involuntary treatment. The first physician's diagnosis and certificate that an individual is in need of treatment authorizes involuntary taking of that person to an emergency receiving facility to undergo, within 24 hours, an examination by a second physician. If upon that second examination the examining physician concludes that the patient is in need of or requires treatment, then that patient can be legally confined in an evaluation facility without his or her consent. Kendrick v. Metropolitan Psychiatric Ctr., Inc., 158 Ga. App. 839, 282 S.E.2d 361 (1981).

Cited in Watkins v. Roche, 529 F. Supp. 327 (S.D. Ga. 1981).


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