South Carolina General Assembly
108th Session, 1989-1990

Bill 3760

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               3760
Ratification Number:       429
Act Number                 383
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Emergency admission of persons to mental
                           health facilities
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(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A383, R429, H3760)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 44-17-410, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO EMERGENCY ADMISSION TO MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE COURT SHALL DETERMINE IF THERE IS PROBABLE CAUSE TO CONTINUE EMERGENCY DETENTION OF A PATIENT.

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

Emergency admission of persons to mental health facilities

SECTION 1. Section 44-17-410(3) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"(3) Within forty-eight hours after his admission, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, the place of admission shall forward the application and certification to the probate court of the county in which the person resides or where the acts or conduct leading to his hospitalization occurred.

Within forty-eight hours of receipt of the application and certification exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, the court shall conduct preliminary review of all the evidence to determine if probable cause exists to continue emergency detention of the patient. If the court finds that probable cause does not exist, it shall issue an order of release for the patient. Upon a finding of probable cause, the court shall make a written order detailing its findings and may order the continued detention of the patient.

With each application and certification, the treatment facility shall provide the court with a designated examiner appointment form listing the names of two designated examiners at the treatment facility.

If the court appoints these two designated examiners, the examination must be performed at the treatment facility and a report must be submitted to the court within seven days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, from the date of admission. The court may appoint independent designated examiners who shall submit a report to the court within the time allotted above. In the process of examination by the designated examiners, previous hospitalization records must be considered. At least one of the examiners appointed by the court must be a licensed physician.

If the report of the designated examiners is that the patient is not mentally ill, the court shall dismiss the petition and the patient must be discharged immediately by the facility.

If the report of the designated examiners is that the patient is mentally ill, the court may order that the person be detained at the place of his admission, appoint counsel for him if he has not retained counsel, and fix a date for a full hearing to be held pursuant to Section 44-17-570 within twenty days from the date of his admission. The court shall give notice of the hearing pursuant to Section 44-17-420.

The examiners's report must be available to the person's counsel before the full hearing. The person must be given the opportunity to request an independent designated examiner pursuant to Section 44-17-530."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Approved the 19th day of March, 1990.