Periodic Review of Treatment Plan; Procedure Upon Termination of Need for Involuntary Treatment; Designation of Discharge Decisionmaker; Notice of Discharge or Transfer to Voluntary Status

  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. Determination of Need for Treatment, Admission to Treatment Facilities
  7. Periodic Review of Treatment Plan; Procedure Upon Termination of Need for Involuntary Treatment; Designation of Discharge Decisionmaker; Notice of Discharge or Transfer to Voluntary Status

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  1. Each individualized treatment plan for a patient receiving involuntary inpatient treatment shall be reviewed at regular intervals to determine the patient's progress toward the stated goals and objectives of the plan and to determine whether the plan should be modified because of the patient's present condition. These reviews should be based upon relevant progress notes in the patient's clinical record and upon other related information; and input from the patient should be obtained and utilized where feasible.
  2. Any time a patient receiving involuntary inpatient treatment is found by the chief medical officer, after consideration of the recommendations of the treatment team, no longer to be an alcoholic, a drug dependent individual, or a drug abuser requiring involuntary inpatient treatment, the chief medical officer may:
    1. Discharge the patient from involuntary outpatient or inpatient treatment, or both, subject to the conditions of Code Section 37-7-95;
    2. Discharge the patient from involuntary inpatient treatment and require that the patient obtain available outpatient treatment for the remaining period the patient was to have been required to obtain inpatient treatment, as long as the patient then meets the standards for being discharged to outpatient treatment under paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 37-7-81.1 and subject to the conditions of Code Section 37-7-95; or
    3. Transfer the patient to voluntary status at the patient's request, as provided in Code Section 37-7-24.
  3. The chief medical officer may designate in writing another physician, who may be the attending physician, to make these discharge decisions.If the decision of the designee is contrary to the recommendations of the treatment team, the issue must go to the chief medical officer for final determination.Where the treatment team and the designee concur, the decision of the designee will be final.
  4. Notice of the discharge or the transfer of status shall be given to the patient and his representatives; if the patient's hospitalization was authorized by order of a court, to the court which entered such order; and, if the patient was under criminal charges of which the facility received written notification, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to the law enforcement agency originally having custody of the patient.

(Code 1933, § 88-404.24, enacted by Ga. L. 1971, p. 273, § 1; Ga. L. 1977, p. 1293, § 7; Code 1933, § 88-406.6, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1856, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1098, § 9; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1059, § 5; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3.)

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.

PART 4 OUTPATIENT TREATMENT

37-7-90. Physician's or psychologist's determination and certification as to involuntary outpatient care; treatment of patient as inpatient or outpatient.

  1. When a physician or psychologist at a facility or on behalf of a facility determines and certifies under this article that there is reason to believe a patient admitted to or examined at the facility is an alcoholic, a drug dependent individual, or a drug abuser requiring involuntary treatment, that physician or psychologist shall further determine and certify whether there is reason to believe the patient is:
    1. An inpatient or outpatient; and
    2. If an outpatient, whether:
      1. There is available outpatient treatment; and
      2. The patient will likely comply with the outpatient treatment so as to minimize the likelihood of the patient's becoming an inpatient.
  2. Unless otherwise specifically provided, the determination and certification as to paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) of this Code section shall be made within the time period required for determining whether a patient is an alcoholic, a drug dependent individual, or a drug abuser requiring involuntary treatment, except that if such determination is made by a physician or psychologist at or on behalf of a community mental health center, the determination and certification shall be made within four hours after the patient is examined by the physician or psychologist.
  3. A person determined and certified to be:
    1. An outpatient;
    2. A person for whom there is available outpatient treatment; and
    3. Likely to comply with the outpatient treatment so as to minimize the likelihood of the patient's becoming an inpatient

      shall be considered to be in need of involuntary outpatient treatment and not involuntary inpatient treatment for purposes of further proceedings under this article until such time as that person's status is determined to be otherwise pursuant to those proceedings.

  4. A person determined and certified to be an alcoholic, a drug dependent individual, or a drug abuser requiring involuntary treatment who does not meet all of the requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (c) of this Code section shall be considered to be in need of involuntary inpatient treatment and not involuntary outpatient treatment for purposes of further proceedings under this article until such time as that person's status is determined to be otherwise pursuant to those proceedings.

(Code 1981, §37-7-90, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 1098, § 10; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1902, § 22.)

Law reviews.

- 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

Compliance with procedures.

- Findings in an involuntary treatment proceeding that the patient was incapacitated by alcohol on a recurring basis showed that the patient was unlikely to comply with outpatient treatment and therefore did not meet the outpatient requirements of O.C.G.A. § 37-7-90. Ridgeview Inst., Inc. v. Wingate, 271 Ga. 512, 520 S.E.2d 445 (1999), reversing Wingate v. Ridgeview Inst., Inc., 233 Ga. App. 649, 504 S.E.2d 714 (1998).


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