NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1961 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 511

HOUSE BILL 253

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 122 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES RELATING TO HOSPITALIZATION OF THE MENTALLY DISORDERED.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 122‑24 is hereby amended by inserting immediately following the word "superintendent" and immediately preceding the word "of" in line 2 thereof, the following:

"or any staff member under the supervision and direction of the director or superintendent."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 122‑43 is hereby amended by inserting immediately following the word "physicians" and immediately preceding the word "duly" in line 5 thereof, the punctuation and words ", not related by blood or marriage to the alleged mentally disordered person,".

Sec. 3.  G.S. 122‑46 as the same appears in the 1959 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 3B of the General Statutes is hereby amended by inserting immediately following the word "condition" and immediately preceding the word "for" in line 10 of the first paragraph thereof, the words:

"and give appropriate treatment."

Sec. 4.  G.S. 122‑46 is hereby amended by inserting immediately following the word "observation" and immediately preceding the comma in the second line of the third paragraph thereof, the words "and treatment".

Sec. 5.  G.S. 122‑46.1 is hereby rewritten to read as follows:

"§ 122-46.1.  Clerk may make final commitment to hospital. When such alleged mentally disordered person is committed to a State hospital for observation and treatment, the hospital authorities shall, at the expiration of 60 days, file with the Clerk of the Superior Court of the county in which the alleged mentally disordered person resided, if known, if not known, with the Clerk of the Superior Court who committed such alleged mentally disordered person for observation and treatment a written report stating the conclusion reached by the hospital authorities as to the mental condition of the alleged mentally disordered person. Upon the basis of this report, the Clerk of the Superior Court of the county in which the alleged mentally disordered person resided, or if such alleged mentally disordered person's residence is not known, the Clerk of the Superior Court who committed him for observation and treatment is authorized to order said person discharged or to order him to remain at the hospital as a patient, as the facts may warrant. Any person who has been committed to any State hospital as mentally disordered as provided by law shall be and remain a charge of such State hospital until he has been discharged from said hospital or declared competent as otherwise provided by law.

"At the end of the 60‑day observation and treatment period the superintendent of the State hospital in which the alleged mentally disordered person has been confined for a 60‑day period of observation and treatment may signify in writing to the clerk of the court of the county in which the alleged mentally disordered person is settled that his observation of the alleged mentally disordered person has not been completed and that a second period of observation and treatment of the alleged mentally disordered person is requested. This second period of observation and treatment shall not exceed four months. Whereupon the Clerk of the Superior Court who committed the alleged mentally disordered person for observation and treatment is authorized to order said person to remain at the hospital as a patient for another observation and treatment period not to exceed four months."

Sec. 6.  G.S. 122‑46.3 is hereby amended by inserting immediately following the word "observation" and immediately preceding the comma in line four thereof, the words "and treatment."

Sec. 7.  G.S. 122‑51 is hereby amended by striking out in the next to last paragraph thereof the words "To the physicians making the examination, the sum of fifteen dollars ($15.00) each and mileage at the rate of seven cents (7˘) a mile" and by substituting in lieu thereof the following:

"To the physicians making the examination in the hospital, a fee to be determined in accord with the schedule of fees adopted by the North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control and mileage at the rate of seven cents (7˘) a mile."

Sec. 8.  G.S. 122‑57 as the same appears in the 1959 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes is hereby rewritten to read as follows:

"Section 122‑57.  Temporary dentention in case of sudden and violent homicidal or suicidal; subsequently committed by the clerk; discharged by clerk and returned to county of residence. Whenever any citizen or resident of this State or any other state becomes suddenly and violently homicial or suicidal, he may be detained in the State hospital to which the clerk is authorized to commit mentally disordered persons from his county, private hospital, county hospital, or other suitable place. Authorization for hospitalization shall be upon the affidavit of one physician licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina and who is not related by blood or marriage to the alleged mentally disordered person or upon the application of a respectable citizen by order of the Clerk of Superior Court of the county in which the person becomes suddenly and violently homicidal or suicidal. The physician's signature shall be sworn to before a person authorized to take acknowledgments or witnessed by the sheriff, a deputy sheriff, or a police officer with the rank of sergeant or higher. The physician's sworn signature or witnessed signature shall constitute authority for the temporary detention of the alleged mentally disordered person who has become suddenly and violently homicidal or suicidal without an order of the Clerk of Superior Court and shall constitute authority for the sheriff of the county to take such person into custody and immediately transport him to the place of detention.

The detention provided herein shall be for a period of not more than 20 days. During the 20‑day period proceedings for commitment for observation and treatment of a person temporarily detained in a State hospital, under the provisions of this Section, may proceed without returning said person to the county of his residence. The Clerk of Superior Court of the county in which the patient is confined shall, upon the request of the controlling officer, go to the hospital and hold the hearing required by G.S. 122‑46. Any two physicians licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina and who are not related by blood or marriage to the alleged mentally disordered person and who are not directly connected with the care, observation and treatment of the alleged mentally disordered person in the hospital of confinement, may serve as the certifying physicians. If the Clerk of Superior Court of the county in which the patient is confined dismisses the proceedings and discharges the alleged mentally disordered person, the superintendent shall immediately notify the sheriff of the county of the residence of such person to return him to his home, if within the State, without cost to the person or his family. The expenses of such hearing shall be borne by the county of residence of such mentally disordered person or in case of a non‑resident of the State, by the county where the affidavit or order of temporary detention was initiated. If the clerk finds the person to be mentally disordered, he may issue an order of commitment on the form approved by the North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control, which shall authorize the hospital to receive said person and there to examine him and observe his mental condition for a period not exceeding 60 days. The records of such commitment shall be maintained in accordance with provisions of G.S. 122‑50. Duplicate originals of all certificates and papers, which are or might hereafter be required by law to be sent to the county of commitment, shall be forwarded by the superintendent to the Clerk of Superior Court of the residence of the person so committed.

Thereafter the procedure shall be as is provided in G.S. 122‑46.1."

Sec. 9.  G.S. 122‑62 is hereby rewritten to read as follows:

"G.S. 122‑62.  Admission upon patient's application. Any person believing himself to be of unsound mind or threatened with mental disorder may voluntarily admit himself to the proper hospital. The application for admission shall be in the following form:

State of North Carolina, County of _______________, I, _________________, a resident of _________________ County, North Carolina, being of mind capable of signifying my wishes, do hereby solicit admission as a patient in the State Hospital at _________________ I agree in all respects to conform to the rules and regulations of said institution. I understand that I shall not be entitled to a discharge until I shall have given the superintendent ten days' written notice of my desire to be discharged.

_____________________________

Attest: _________________________________

This application shall be accompanied by the certificate of a licensed physician, which certificate shall state that in the opinion of the physician the applicant is a fit subject for admission into a hospital, and that he recommends his admission. The certificate of the Clerk of the Superior Court need not accompany this application, and the medical director of the State hospital shall not notify the clerk of court of the county of the residence of the patient of the discharge of the patient. The superintendent may if he think it a proper application, receive the patient thus voluntarily admitted and treat him, but no report need to be made to the clerk of the court of the county of his settlement. The superintendent and board of directors shall have the same control over patients who admit themselves voluntarily as they have over those committed under the regular proceedings hereinbefore provided except that a voluntary patient shall be entitled to a discharge after he shall have given the superintendent ten days' written notice of his desire to be discharged, unless proceedings have been instituted for the involuntary commitment of such patient.

If in the opinion of the examining physician or of the superintendent of the hospital the patient should be admitted for not less than a 30‑day period to permit more adequate examination and treatment, the superintendent may have the patient sign the above form to which has been added:

I understand that I will be admitted for a minimum period of 30 days, and that my written notice of a desire to be discharged will not be effective until the expiration of the 30‑day period.

When the patient shall have signed this form admitting himself for 30 days, the superintendent may require that the patient remain at the hospital for this full period.

If necessary, final commitment of voluntarily admitted patients must proceed through the same channels as in case of the involuntary commitment of an allegedly mentally disordered person or in accord with the provisions of G.S. 122‑43.1."

Sec. 10.  G.S. 122‑66 is hereby repealed.

Sec. 11.  G.S. 122‑67 is hereby amended by striking out the words "arrest and" immediately following the word "his" and immediately preceding the word "return" in line two of the second paragraph thereof.

Sec. 12.  G.S. 122‑91 is hereby amended by inserting immediately following the word "observation" and immediately preceding the period in line four thereof, the words "and treatment". The said Section is further amended by inserting immediately following the word "observation" and immediately preceding the word "period" in line seven thereof, the words "and treatment."

Sec. 13.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 14.  This Act shall become effective upon its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 26th day of May, 1961.