TITLE 37 MENTAL HEALTH

Section 7. Hospitalization and Treatment of Alcoholics, Drug Dependent Individuals, and Drug Abusers, 37-7-1 through 37-7-168.

ARTICLE 3 EXAMINATION, HOSPITALIZATION, AND TREATMENT OF INVOLUNTARY PATIENTS

37-7-64. 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.

1. A patient who has been admitted to an evaluating facility pursuant to Code Section 37-7-43, 37-7-63, or subparagraph (a)(3)(B) of Code Section 37-7-81.1 may be detained for a period not to exceed five days, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excluded. The patient shall be discharged upon a finding that the patient is not an alcoholic, a drug dependent person, or a drug abuser requiring involuntary treatment or upon a finding and certification that the patient meets all of the outpatient treatment requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (c) of Code Section 37-7-90, in which event a patient meeting those outpatient treatment requirements shall be discharged under the conditions provided in Code Section 37-7-91 but, in any event, upon the expiration of the five-day evaluation period unless:
   1. Within that period:
      1. The patient is admitted as a voluntary patient under Code Section 37-7-20; or
      2. The patient is admitted for involuntary inpatient treatment under Code Section 37-7-81; or
   2. The patient is under criminal charges, notice of which has been given in writing to the facility, in which case the provisions of Code Section 37-7-95 shall apply.
2. If hospitalization appears desirable, the staff physicians or psychologists of the evaluating facility shall encourage the patient to apply for voluntary hospitalization unless the attending physician or treating psychologist finds that the patient is unable to understand the nature of voluntary hospitalization, that voluntary hospitalization would be harmful to the patient, or that the patient is determined to be an alcoholic, a drug dependent individual, or a drug abuser in need of involuntary treatment, which finding shall be entered in the patient's record.
3. If, after evaluation of the patient, it is determined by the chief medical officer that proceedings for involuntary treatment of the patient should be initiated pursuant to Code Section 37-7-81 or pursuant to Part 4 of this article, the chief medical officer shall direct that an individualized treatment plan be developed for that patient during the five-day period that he is detained for evaluation in the facility.
4. Notice of the discharge shall be given to the patient and his representatives; to the person who filed the petition; if the patient was admitted to the evaluating facility from an emergency receiving facility under Code Section 37-7-43, to the physician or psychologist who executed the certificate or to the court which issued the order pursuant to Code Section 37-7-41; if the patient was under criminal charges of which the facility received written notification, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to the law enforcement agency originally having custody of the patient; and, if the patient was admitted to the evaluating facility under Code Section 37-7-62, to the court that ordered the evaluation.

(Code 1933, §§ 88-404.15, 88-404.16, enacted by Ga. L. 1971, p. 273, § 1; Ga. L. 1977, p. 1293, § 6; Code 1933, §§ 88-405.5, 88-405.6, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1856, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1098, § 8; Ga. L. 1987, p. 3, § 37; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1059, § 32; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1902, § 18; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3.)