(a) Any person alleged to be developmentally disabled, warranting observation and possible residential care and treatment in a facility, public or private, as herein defined, who is not held to answer presently to a criminal charge may be admitted to and received and retained as a resident in a facility by complying with any one of the following admission procedures applicable to the case:
(1) Voluntary admission; or
(2) Admission on a certificate of one physician and a team evaluation certificate.
(b) The director shall prescribe and furnish forms for use in the procedures for admission under this section, and admission shall be had only upon such forms.
(c) A developmentally disabled person, as herein described in this chapter, shall be admitted to a facility as herein defined, designated by the director, or pursuant to an administrative order authorized by law, or pursuant to an authorization, or order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(d) No member of a team, or any physician signing a certificate for emergency admission, shall be related by blood or marriage to the person applying for the admission of a person alleged to be developmentally disabled or to the person alleged to be developmentally disabled; nor shall he or she be a guardian or conservator of the person; nor shall he or she have any interest, contractually, testamentary, or otherwise (other than reasonable and proper charges for professional services rendered), in or against the estate or assets of the person alleged to be developmentally disabled; nor shall he or she be a manager, trustee, proprietor, officer, stockholder, or have any pecuniary interest, directly, or indirectly, or except as otherwise provided, be a director or resident physician, in any facility to which it is proposed to admit the person.
(e) A certificate, as required by this section, must show that the person is developmentally disabled as herein defined, and unable to function independently, and if required to be made by one examining physician, that the physician made an examination of the person alleged to be developmentally disabled within ten (10) days next before and inclusive of the date of admission unless otherwise herein provided. The date of the certificate shall be the date of the commencement of the examination, and in the event the examination or examinations are conducted separately or over a period of days, then the ten (10) day period above referred to (unless otherwise expressly provided) shall be measured from the date of the commencement of the first examination. The certificate shall contain the reasons upon which the judgment of the physician is based and shall show that the condition of the person examined is such as to require development, education, rehabilitation, and care in a facility as herein defined, and shall contain such other information as the director by rule or regulation shall require.
(f) (1) A developmentally disabled person shall enjoy all the civil and constitutional rights conferred on citizens or residents of the state (as the case may be) by the constitution and laws of the United States and of this state, except as expressly otherwise provided by law.
(2) No person of eighteen (18) years of age or older shall be admitted to, detained in, or returned to a state residential facility against his or her will unless he or she has been adjudicated incompetent, has been admitted on any ten (10) day one physician certificate basis, or as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter.
(3) As soon as reasonably practicable upon the admission as provided by this section of any patient to any facility, the superintendent or official in charge thereof shall inform the client of his or her rights to have a judicial hearing and review, to be represented by counsel and to seek independent professional opinion; and further, pursuant to rules established by the director, each client upon admission shall be given the opportunity to communicate by telephone, or if not possible, by the next expeditious method, with any person.
(g) As to all persons admitted to any facility pursuant to this section, the director may make a request of the superintendent or official in charge of any facility to examine at any time a record of admission which shall contain such information as the director by rule or regulation may require. Similarly, the director may examine records of transfers, discharges, conditional releases, and revocation of conditional releases, as well as other dispositions of cases of clients admitted hereunder.
(h) No requirement shall be made, by rule, regulation, or otherwise, as a condition to admission and retention, that any person applying for admission shall have the legal capacity to contract.
History of Section.
P.L. 1970, ch. 324, § 1; P.L. 1978, ch. 195, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 23-43.1-6; P.L. 1979, ch. 39, § 1; P.L. 1995, ch. 122, § 2; P.L. 2020, ch. 79, art. 1, § 39.