O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 37-3-160 (2019)

Individual dignity of patients to be respected; treatment of the mentally ill as medical patients; use of criminal facilities and procedures

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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The patient’s dignity as an individual shall be respected at all times and upon all occasions, including any occasion wherein the patient is taken into custody, detained, or transported. Mentally ill patients or those suspected of being mentally ill shall, to the maximum extent reasonably possible, be treated at all times as medical patients. All patients shall be treated by a physician or psychologist acting within the scope of his or her license. Except where required under conditions of extreme urgency, those procedures, facilities, vehicles, and restraining devices normally utilized for criminals or those accused of crime shall not be used in connection with the mentally ill.

History

Code 1933, § 88-502.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-502.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1902, § 12.

Annotations

Law reviews. - For article, ‘‘Distinctive Factors Affecting the Legal Context of End-Of-Life Medical Care for Older Persons,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 869 (2017). For article, ‘‘Ending-Life Decisions: Some Disability Perspectives,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 893 (2017). For article, ‘‘Unbefriended and Unrepresented: Better

Medical Decision Making for Incapacitated Patients Without Healthcare Surrogates,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 923 (2017). For article, ‘‘Exploring the Right to Die in the U.S.,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 1021 (2017). For note comparing procedures for hospitalization of the mentally ill in Georgia to other jurisdictions and suggesting improvements, see 7 Mercer L. Rev. 361 (1956).

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. - Applicability, in proceedings under statutes relating to sexual psychopaths, of constitutional provisions for the protection of a person accused of crime, 34 A.L.R.3d 652. Standard of proof required under statute providing for commitment of sexual

offenders or sexual psychopaths, 96 A.L.R.3d 840. Criminal responsibility for physical measures undertaken in connection with treatment of mentally disordered patient, 99 A.L.R.3d 854.