No patient hospitalized or treated in any public or private facility for the treatment of persons with psychiatric disabilities shall be deprived of any personal, property or civil rights, including the right to vote, hold or convey property, and enter into contracts, except in accordance with due process of law, and unless such patient has been declared incapable pursuant to sections
45a-644 to
45a-662, inclusive. Any finding of incapability shall specifically state which civil or personal rights the patient is incapable of exercising.
(1971, P.A. 834, S. 2; P.A. 93-369, S. 3; P.A. 95-257, S. 48, 58; P.A. 96-202, S. 1; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1, S. 15, 121.)
History: Sec. 17-206b transferred to Sec. 17a-541 in 1991; P.A. 93-369 changed “the mentally disordered” to “persons with a mental illness”; P.A. 95-257 substituted “psychiatric disabilities” for “mental illness”, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-202 changed “incompetent” to “incapable”; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1 made a technical change, effective June 24, 1998.
See Sec. 9-159s re notice to certain guardians and conservators of voting opportunities presented to patients.
See Sec. 45a-703 re determinations of competency to vote.
Annotations to former section 17-206b:
Cited. 210 C. 806. Right to treatment and safe environment applies whether confinement voluntary or involuntary. 213 C. 548. Cited. 230 C. 828; 235 C. 426.
Cited. 17 CA 130.
A child 17 years of age may demand, on his own authority, release from a psychiatric institution to which he was voluntarily admitted at 15 years of age upon written request of his parents. 30 CS 886.
Annotations to present section:
Cited. 235 C. 426.
Cited. 44 CS 53.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
9
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1995–2025 · leading case:
Wiseman v. Armstrong, 850 A.2d 114 (Conn. 2004).
Wiseman v. Armstrong, 850 A.2d 114 (Conn. 2004).
· cites it 3× “Compare General Statutes § 17a-541 (no patient shall be deprived of any personal, property or civil rights, including right to vote, unless first having been declared incapable) 18 with Gen *817 eral Statutes § 9-46 (a) (“[a] person shall forfeit such person’s right to become an…”
Phoebe G. v. Solnit, 743 A.2d 606 (Conn. 1999).
· cites it 7× “General Statutes § 17a-541 provides: “No patient hospitalized or treated in any public or private facility for the treatment of persons with psychiatric disabilities shall be deprived of any personal, property or civil rights, including the right to vote, hold or convey…”
State v. DeFrancesco, 668 A.2d 348 (Conn. 1995).
· cites it 2× “” Section 17-206b has been transferred to General Statutes § 17a-541. See footnote 11.”
Doe v. Dept. of Mental Health & Addiction Servs., 204 A.3d 1230 (Conn. App. Ct. 2019).
· cites it 2× “They include not just the protection of a patient's personal, property [and] civil rights; General Statutes § 17a-541 ; rights to communicate by mail and telephone and to receive visitors; General Statutes §§ 17a-546 and 17a-547 ; and qualified rights to refuse the…”
Moscovitch v. Danbury Hosp., 25 F. Supp. 2d 74 (D. Conn. 1998).
“section 17a-541 (1995) provides: No patient hospitalized or treated in any public or private facility for the treatment of persons with psychiatric disabilities shall be deprived of any personal, property or civil rights, including the right to vote, hold or convey property, and…”
Giordano v. Connecticut Valley Hosp., 588 F. Supp. 2d 306 (D. Conn. 2008).
“§ 17a-541 (safeguarding psychiatric patients’ personal, property, and civil rights); § 17a-542 (guaranteeing psychiatric patients “humane and dignified treatment at all times, with full respect for [their] personal dignity and right to privacy”); § 17a-543 (requiring patients’…”
Drummer v. State, 233 Conn. App. 383 (Conn. App. Ct. 2025).
· cites it 3× “Any finding of incapability shall specif- ically state which civil or personal rights the patient is incapable of exercis- ing’’; General Statutes § 17a-541; and ‘‘[e]very patient treated in any facility for treatment of persons with psychiatric disabilities shall receive humane…”
State v. Anderson (Conn. 2015).
· cites it 2× “38 They include not just the protection of a patient’s ‘‘per- sonal, property [and] civil rights’’; General Statutes § 17a-541; rights to communicate by mail and telephone and to receive visitors; General Statutes §§ 17a-546 and 17a-547; and qualified rights to refuse the…”
Kortner v. Martise (Conn. 2014).
“to 1997) § 17a-541 (‘‘No patient hospitalized or treated in any public or private facility for the treatment of persons with psychiatric disabilities shall be deprived of any personal, property or civil rights, including the right to vote, hold or convey property, and contract,…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.