South Carolina General Assembly
107th Session, 1987-1988

Bill 1287

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               1287
Ratification Number:       596
Act Number                 527
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   "Hospital" defined
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A527, R596, S1287)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 44-7-130, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL, SO AS TO DEFINE "RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITY FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS" AND ADD THOSE FACILITIES TO THE FACILITIES INCLUDED IN THE DEFINITION OF "HOSPITAL" AND TO DEFINE "CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN NEED OF MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT".

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

"Hospital" defined

SECTION 1. Section 44-7-130(4) of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 184 of 1987, is further amended to read:

"(4) 'Hospital' includes public health centers and general, tuberculosis, mental, chronic disease, and other types of hospital and related facilities such as outpatient facilities, nursing homes, state health laboratories, nurses' training facilities, facilities for persons with developmental disabilities (formerly facilities for the mentally retarded), residential treatment facilities for children and adolescents, community mental health centers, including facilities for alcoholics and narcotic addicts, and residential care facilities providing care for nonambulatory persons."

Definitions

SECTION 2. Section 44-7-130 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 184 of 1987, is further amended by adding appropriately numbered items to read:

"( ) 'Residential treatment facility for children and adolescents' means a facility operated for the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and care by two or more persons of 'children and adolescents in need of mental health treatment' which provides:

(a) a special education program with a minimum program defined by the South Carolina Department of Education;

(b) recreational facilities with an organized youth development program; and

(c) residential treatment for a child or adolescent in need of mental health treatment.

( ) 'Children and adolescents in need of mental health treatment' in a residential treatment facility means a child or adolescent under age eighteen who manifests a substantial disorder of cognitive or emotional process, which lessens or impairs to a marked degree that child's capacity either to develop or to exercise age-appropriate or age-adequate behavior. The behavior includes, but is not limited to, marked disorders of mood or thought processes, severe difficulties with self-control and judgment including behavior dangerous to self or others, and serious disturbances in the ability to care for and relate to others."

Time effective

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval of the Governor.