O.C.G.A. § 37-6-8 (2019)
Expenditure of funds appropriated for this chapter
The department is authorized, directed, and empowered to expend funds appropriated to the department for the purposes of administering this chapter.
History
Ga. L. 1963, p. 259, § 7; Ga. L. 1966, p. 374, § 11.
CHAPTER 7 HOSPITALIZATION AND TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLICS, DRUG DEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS, AND DRUG ABUSERS Sec.
Article 1 General Provisions Sec.
Definitions. Authority of board to issue regulations; powers of department generally. Coordination of state drug and alcohol abuse programs. Validity of hospitalization orders entered before September 1, 1978; establishment of regulations authorizing continued hospitalization of patients hospitalized before September 1, 1978. Immunity from liability for actions taken in good faith compliance with admission and discharge provisions of chapter. Apprehension by peace officer of patient who leaves facility without permission. Approval of private facilities as emergency receiving facilities, evaluating facilities, or treatment facilities; powers and duties of private facilities; right to deny admission. ‘‘Drug’’ defined; Right of minor to obtain treatment of drug abuse on his consent alone; binding effect of consent; informing minor’s parent, spouse, custodian, or guardian of treatment.
Article 3 Examination, Hospitalization, and Treatment of Involuntary Patients PART 1 EMERGENCY RECEIVING FACILITIES FOR EXAMINATION OF PERSONS APPREHENDED PURSUANT TO PHYSICIAN’S CERTIFICATE OR COURT ORDER
Article 2 Hospitalization and Treatment of Voluntary Patients
rights to patient at time of admission. Discharge of voluntary patients upon recovery or termination of need for hospitalization; notice of discharge. Right of voluntary patient to discharge upon application; procedure on denial of application for discharge; notice of discharge. Giving voluntary patients periodic notice of rights. Transfer of involuntary patients to voluntary status; notice of transfer and of discharge of patients so transferred; discharge of transferred patient charged with criminal offense.
Admission of voluntary patients; parental consent to treatment; giving notice of
Designation by department of emergency receiving facilities; reporting; penalty for noncompliance. Emergency involuntary treatment; who may certify need; delivery for examination; report of delivery required; annual report. Emergency admission of persons arrested for penal offenses; report by officer; entry of report into clinical record.
Sec.
Procedure upon admission; notice of proposed discharge. Giving patient and his representatives notice of their rights upon patient’s admission to emergency receiving facility. PART 2
Sec.
EVALUATING FACILITIES FOR EXAMINATION OF PERSONS ORDERED TO UNDERGO EVALUATION FOR MENTAL ILLNESS
Designation of evaluating facilities. Petition for court ordered evaluation. Hearing on petition for court ordered evaluation; notice; appointment of representatives; patient’s right to counsel; waiver of hearing by patient; procedure upon issuance of order for evaluation. Admission of persons to evaluating facilities for evaluation and emergency treatment. Length of period of detention in evaluating facility; discharge; procedure upon determination of need for hospitalization or involuntary treatment; notice of discharge from evaluating facility. Request for transfer to another evaluating facility; direction of notice of transfer.
PART 4 OUTPATIENT TREATMENT
PART 3 DETERMINATION OF NEED FOR TREATMENT, ADMISSION TO TREATMENT FACILITIES
Designation of treatment facilities.
Annotations
Cross references. - Duties of Department of Human Resources relating to classification and evaluation of drug abuse treatment and education programs, T. 26, C. 5.
Protective services for abused, neglected, or exploited disabled adults, T. 30, C. 5.
Reporting of abuse or exploitation of residents of long-term care facilities, § 31-8-80 et seq.
Rights of persons residing in long-term care facilities generally, § 31-8-100 et seq.
Administrative Rules and Regulations. - Rules regulating "Drug Abuse Treatment and Education Programs," Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Department of Human Resources, Chapter 290-4-2.
Adult crisis stabilization units, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Chapter 82-3-1.
Children and adolescent crisis stabilization units, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State or Georgia, Department of Behavioral Health and Disabilities, Chapter 82-4-1.
Law reviews. - For article, "The Olmstead Decision: The Road to Dignity and Freedom," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 651 (2010). For article, "Olmstead's Promise and Cohousing's Potential," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 663 (2010). For article, "From the Inside Out: Personal Perspectives of Six Georgians on Their Institutional Experiences," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 741 (2010). For article, "The Constitutional Right to Community Services," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 763 (2010). For article, "Reconsidering Makin v. Hawaii: The Right of Medicaid Beneficiaries to Home-Based Services as an Alternative to Institutionalization," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 803 (2010). For article, "The Potential and Risks of Relying on Title II's Integration Mandate to Close Segregated Institutions," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 855 (2010). For article, "Beyond Residential Segregation: The Application of Olmstead to Segregated Employment Settings," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 875 (2010). For article, "From Almshouses to Nursing Homes and Community Care: Lessons from Medicaid's History," see 26 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 937 (2010).
For note on 1991 amendments to this chapter, see 8 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 121 (1992). For note, "Deinstitutionalization: Georgia's Progress in Developing and Implementing an 'Effectively Working Plan' as Required by Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel," see 25 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 699 (2009).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Purpose of procedural safeguards contained in chapter. - Procedural safeguards contained in O.C.G.A. Ch. 7, T. 37 are obviously for purpose of ensuring that individual rights are not eroded in name of medical expediency. Kendrick v. Metropolitan Psychiatric Ctr., Inc., 158 Ga. App. 839, 282 S.E.2d 361 (1981).
Procedural safeguards of chapter must be strictly complied with. - O.C.G.A. Ch. 7, T. 37 involves extremely sensitive area of deprivation of liberty and requires strict compliance with all of its procedures. Kendrick v. Metropolitan Psychiatric Ctr., Inc., 158 Ga. App. 839, 282 S.E.2d 361 (1981).
Reason for requiring rigid adherence to designated procedures. - Rigid adherence to designated procedures is especially important in light of relative ease with which one may be taken from first interview with a physician to involuntary confinement and treatment. Kendrick v. Metropolitan Psychiatric Ctr., Inc., 158 Ga. App. 839, 282 S.E.2d 361 (1981).
Provisions for contesting confinement. - O.C.G.A. Ch. 7, T. 37 amply provides for the invocation of legal measures to contest the validity of confinement. Watkins v. Roche, 529 F. Supp. 327 (S.D. Ga. 1981).
Rationale for limited liability of private physicians. - Throughout the various provisions of O.C.G.A. Ch. 7, T. 37, the judgment of the private physician is sought, but is not required. Rather, it is the judgment of the state's physicians that is determinative of the question of further examination or treatment. To open physicians to federal suit by decreeing that the physicians act for the state in making purely medical decisions would effectively chill the use, and accompanying benefit, of a private physician's judgment in an emergency situation simply because the physician may not be willing to give it for fear of being exposed to a lawsuit. The disadvantage in this is that the statutory alternatives do not provide the immediacy of action of a physician's certificate. Watkins v. Roche, 529 F. Supp. 327 (S.D. Ga. 1981).
Treatment time limits. - O.C.G.A. Ch. 7, T. 37 prescribes maximum time limits for steps leading to treatment, but no minimums. If two physicians agree that an individual needs involuntary treatment as contemplated by that chapter, the elapsed time between the patient's arrival at the first doctor's office or at the hospital and onset of involuntary psychiatric treatment could be no more than the time occupied by two interviews, which is the outer limits of due process and cannot be reduced by procedural safeguards any further. Kendrick v. Metropolitan Psychiatric Ctr., Inc., 158 Ga. App. 839, 282 S.E.2d 361 (1981).
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ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS