Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 229.4 (2026)

Right to release on application

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section IA-LEGlegis.iowa.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

A voluntary patient who requests release or whose release is requested, in writing, by the patient’s legal guardian, parent, spouse, or adult next of kin shall be released from the hospital in accordance with all of the following, as applicable:

1. If the patient was admitted on the patient’s own application and the request for release is made by some other person, release may be conditioned upon the agreement of the patient.

2. If the patient is a minor who was admitted on the application of the patient’s parent, guardian, or custodian pursuant to section 229.2, subsection 1, the patient’s release prior to becoming eighteen years of age may be conditioned upon the consent of the parent, guardian, or custodian, or upon the approval of the juvenile court if the admission was approved by the juvenile court.

3. If the chief medical officer of the hospital, not later than the end of the next secular day on which the office of the clerk of the district court for the county in which the hospital is located is open and which follows the submission of the written request for release of the patient, files with that clerk a certification that in the chief medical officer’s opinion the patient is seriously mentally impaired, the release may be postponed for the period of time the \n Tue Dec 09 22:21:30 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 229 (47, 1) 5 HOSPITALIZATION OF PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS, §229.6\n\ncourt determines is necessary to permit commencement of judicial procedure for involuntary hospitalization. That period of time may not exceed five days, exclusive of days on which the clerk’s office is not open unless the period of time is extended by order of a district court judge for good cause shown. Until disposition of the application for involuntary hospitalization of the patient is determined, if an application is timely filed, the chief medical officer may detain the patient in the hospital and may provide treatment which is necessary to preserve the patient’s life, or to appropriately control behavior by the patient which is likely to result in physical injury to the patient or to others if allowed to continue, but may not otherwise provide treatment to the patient without the patient’s consent. [C50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, §229.41; C77, 79, 81, §229.4] 2023 Acts, ch 19, §517 Referred to in §229.23 \n

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 1949–2015 · leading case: Stamus v. Leonhardt, 414 F. Supp. 439 (S.D. Iowa 1976).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Stamus v. Leonhardt, 414 F. Supp. 439 (S.D. Iowa 1976). · cites it 4× “” Iowa Code § 229.4 . The subject was also to be informed of the right to counsel, and, if indigent, that the court would appoint counsel.”

Hiatt v. Soucek, 36 N.W.2d 432 (Iowa 1949). · cites it 2× “ay we not presume in favor of the constitutionality of the statute that the later enactment omitted provision for a precedent formal hearing because the prisoner (or patient) would have this subsequent right to a judicial review and hearing as to his mental condition? It is our…”

Prochaska v. Brinegar, 102 N.W.2d 870 (Iowa 1960). · cites it 2× “The Commissioners ruled the presence of the - party would be -of no advantage and he was not given notice of the hearing before the Commissioners, section 229.4. A regular practicing physician was appointed who examined the accused and filed.”

In re R.M.P., 521 N.W.2d 765 (Iowa Ct. App. 1994). · cites it 2× “The patient’s right to refuse treatment by chemotherapy shall not apply during any period of custody authorized by section 229.4(3), 229.11 or 229.22, but this exception shall extend only to chemotherapy treatment which is in the chief medical officer’s judgment, necessary to…”

In the Matter of R.S., Alleged to Be Seriously Mentally Impaired R.S. (Iowa Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 4× “See generally Iowa Code § 229.4 (3) (allowing application for involuntary commitment when voluntarily admitted patient seeks release and medical officer concludes patient is seriously mentally impaired).”

— Iowa Code § 229.4(3) — 1 case

In re R.M.P., 521 N.W.2d 765 (Iowa Ct. App. 1994). “The patient’s right to refuse treatment by chemotherapy shall not apply during any period of custody authorized by section 229.4(3), 229.11 or 229.22, but this exception shall extend only to chemotherapy treatment which is in the chief medical officer’s judgment, necessary to…”

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.