New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29 (2026)

Incident reporting procedures

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section NY-LEGnysenate.gov Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

§ 29.29 Incident reporting procedures.
  The commissioners of the office of mental health and the office for
people with developmental disabilities of the department shall establish
policies and uniform procedures for their respective offices for the
reporting, compilation, and analysis of incident reports. Incident
reports shall, for the purposes of this chapter, mean reports of
accidents and injuries affecting patient health and welfare at
facilities. These policies and procedures shall include but shall not be
limited to:
  1. The establishment of a patient care and safety team at the facility
level which shall include but not be limited to a: physician, nurse,
social worker and therapy aide, to investigate and report to the
facility director on:
  (i) suicides or attempted suicides;
  (ii) violent behavior exhibited by either patients or employees;
  (iii) frequency and severity of injuries incurred by either patients
or employees;
  (iv) frequency and severity of injuries occurring on individual wards
or in buildings at such facility;
  (v) patient leave without consent;
  (vi) medication errors; and
  (vii) recommendations for corrective actions in response to incident
reports to ensure the care and safety of all patients.
  2. The establishment of cumulative record keeping of incident reports
which identifies patient and employee involvement.
  3. A compilation of uniform and measurable information, first on a
facility basis, then on an office-wide basis, that will indicate where
the greatest number and types of incidents occur.
  4. Each facility shall aggregate its data monthly for the director and
that aggregated information shall be submitted, at least semi-annually
to the commissioner of the office of mental health and to the
commissioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities.
  5. The commissioners shall transmit a copy of any report received
pursuant to subdivision four of this section to the state commission on
quality of care and advocacy for persons with disabilities.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 29 cases (5 in the last 5 years), 1992–2026 · leading case: Katherine F. v. State of Ny, 723 N.E.2d 1016 (NY 1999).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Katherine F. v. State of Ny, 723 N.E.2d 1016 (NY 1999). · cites it 11× “The Appellate Division reversed, holding that Education Law § 6527 (3) and Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29, when read in tandem, barred disclosure of the psychiatric hospital’s incident reports, and it certified to this Court the question whether its order was proper.”

Marte v. Brooklyn Hosp. Ctr., 9 A.D.3d 41 (N.Y. App. Div. 2004). · cites it 2× “By order dated April 30, 2002, the Supreme Court granted the Hospital’s motion, reasoning in part as follows: “It is apparent that the Education Law § 6527 (3) exempts three categories of documents from disclosure: records relating to medical review and quality assurance…”

Smith v. State, 181 A.D.2d 227 (N.Y. App. Div. 1992). · cites it 5× “As a clear reading of the statute indicates, documents and proceedings relating to incidents reported under Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29 are protected from disclosure.”

Brathwaite v. State, 208 A.D.2d 231 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995). · cites it 5× “demand for "all reports of experts” was overly broad and lacked specificity and that it was burdensome and "may well be” privileged and confidential and that the demand for reports of the Commission relating to Willow-brook during the relevant period contravened various…”

Dawn VV. v. State, 47 A.D.3d 1048 (N.Y. App. Div. 2008). “The facility staff and hospital employees who evaluated claimant were under a business duty to report incidents to the Department of Health (see Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29; Public Health Law *1050 § 2805-Z), but not to local police.”

Bellamy v. State of New York, 2017 NY Slip Op 7507 (N.Y. App. Div. 2017). · cites it 2× “Subject to certain exceptions, “[n]either the proceedings nor the records relating to performance of a medical or a quality assurance review function . . . nor any report required by the [Department of [H]ealth pursuant to [Public Health Law § 2805-1], including the…”

Stephen v. State, 117 A.D.3d 821 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014). “Contrary to the claimants’ contention, the court properly shielded from disclosure a postincident investigation report prepared by nonparty Institute for Community Living, Inc.”

Sharpe v. Conole, 123 F. Supp. 2d 87 (N.D.N.Y. 2000). “Health Law §§ 2805 j-m, 2807-i; N.Y. Mental Hyg.Law § 29.29 ; 10 N.Y.Code Rules and Reg.”

Duzon v. State, 155 Misc. 2d 86 (1992). “Taking the last first, Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29 requires facilities such as MDC to prepare reports of accidents and injuries affecting their patients’ health and welfare.”

Civil Serv. Employees Ass'n v. State of New York Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 14 Misc. 3d 199 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2006). · cites it 4× “OMRDD would not provide certain records, asserting that, because the materials were confidential quality assurance records generated pursuant to Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29, they could not be disclosed pursuant to Education Law § 6527 (3).”

Finnegan v. State, 179 Misc. 2d 694 (1999). · cites it 19× “) Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29 defines “incident reports” as “reports of accidents and injuries affecting patient health and welfare at * * * departmental facilities.”

Szmania v. State, 82 A.D.3d 1688 (N.Y. App. Div. 2011). · cites it 2× “1, we conclude that the Court of Claims properly determined that certain portions of the relevant incident reports, as well as additional incident notification forms, were precluded from disclosure pursuant to Education Law § 6527 (3) and Mental Hygiene Law § 29.29. Contrary to…”

Show all 29 citing cases →

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.