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O.C.G.A. § 37-3-42 — Emergency admission of persons arrested for penal offenses; report by officer; entry of report into clinical record | Georgia Code
O.C.G.A. § 37-3-42 (2018) Copy Cite Official Site Syfertize CourtListener Scholar Amendments

TITLE 37 MENTAL HEALTH

Section 3. Examination, Treatment, etc., for Mental Illness, 37-3-1 through 37-3-168.

ARTICLE 3 EXAMINATION, HOSPITALIZATION, AND TREATMENT OF INVOLUNTARY PATIENTS

37-3-42. Emergency admission of persons arrested for penal offenses; report by officer; entry of report into clinical record.

  1. A peace officer may take any person to a physician within the county or an adjoining county for emergency examination by the physician, as provided in Code Section 37-3-41, or directly to an emergency receiving facility if (1) the person is committing a penal offense, and (2) the peace officer has probable cause for believing that the person is a mentally ill person requiring involuntary treatment. The peace officer need not formally tender charges against the individual prior to taking the individual to a physician or an emergency receiving facility under this Code section. The peace officer shall execute a written report detailing the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody; and this report shall be made a part of the patient's clinical record.
  2. Any psychologist may perform any act specified by this Code section to be performed by a physician. Any reference in any part of this chapter to a physician acting under this Code section shall be deemed to refer equally to a psychologist acting under this Code section. For purposes of this subsection, the term "psychologist" means any person authorized under the laws of this state to practice as a licensed psychologist.

(Code 1933, § 88-504.3, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 996, § 4; Ga. L. 1987, p. 3, § 37.)

Cross references.

- Arrest of persons, T. 17, C. 4.

Licensing of applied psychologists, T. 43, C. 39.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

No authority to take defendant into custody.

- Officers were not acting within the scope of their lawful authority when they took the defendant into custody because they did not have a physician's certificate or court order as required by O.C.G.A. § 37-3-41, and it was undisputed that the defendant had not committed, nor was the defendant suspected of committing, a penal offense as mandated by O.C.G.A. § 37-3-42(a). Boatright v. State, 327 Ga. App. 785, 761 S.E.2d 176 (2014).

Cited in Benham v. Edwards, 501 F. Supp. 1050 (N.D. Ga. 1980).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Medical admissions county was a county in which the procedure was governed by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U72-29.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Validity, construction, and application of overt act requirement of state statutes providing for commitment of sexually dangerous persons, 56 A.L.R. 6th 647.

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This Georgia Code resource is curated by this site's author, a personal injury and workers' compensation attorney admitted in Georgia (State Bar of Georgia No. 881027, since 2006) and Florida. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.