§334-72 Transfer of veterans. (a) Upon receipt of a certificate of the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States that facilities are available for the care and treatment of a person previously admitted to a psychiatric facility and that the person is eligible for such care and treatment, the administrator of the psychiatric facility or the administrator’s deputy may transfer the person to the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States for care and treatment, except a person admitted or committed on court order as provided in chapters 571, 704 and 706 or transferred under section 334-74. The administrator of the sending facility or the administrator’s deputy shall send prior notice of such transfer as provided in section 334-71. A person transferred under this section shall be deemed to be admitted for hospitalization to any facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States pursuant to the provisions of part IV. The person, when admitted to a facility operated by or contracting with the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States, within or without this State, shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States. The chief officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs or of the institution operated by any other agency of the United States to which the person is so admitted shall with respect to such person be vested with the same powers as administrators of licensed psychiatric facilities within this State with regard to detention, transfer, authorized absence or discharge. Jurisdiction is retained in this State and specifically in the family court of the circuit in which the sending facility was located to inquire at any time into the mental and physical condition of the person so admitted and to determine the necessity for the person’s continued hospitalization, and all transfers under this section are so conditioned.
(b) The judgment or order of hospitalization by a court of competent jurisdiction of another state, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico, hospitalizing a person with the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States for care and treatment shall have the same force and effect with respect to the hospitalized person while in this State with the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States as in the state or district in which the judgment or order was made, and the court making the judgment or order shall be deemed to have retained jurisdiction of the person so hospitalized for the purpose of inquiring into the mental and physical condition of the person and of determining the necessity for the person’s continued hospitalization. Consent is hereby given to the application of the law of the state or district with respect to the authority of the chief officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs or of the institution operated by any other agency of the United States in which the person is hospitalized to detain, transfer, place on authorized absence, or discharge the hospitalized person.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring upon the department of health or any other agency or officer of this State any power of licensing, supervision, inspection, or control over hospitals or other institutions operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States, or over any officers or employees thereof. [L 1967, c 259, pt of §1; HRS §334-72; am L 1976, c 130, §6; gen ch 1985; am L 2017, c 12, §1]