Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 78.djvu/988

 946

PUBLIC LAW 88-597-SEPT. 15, 1964

[78 STAT.

H O S P I T A L I Z A T I O N OF N O N P R O T E S T I N G PERSONS

SEC. 5. (a) A friend or relative of an individual believed to be suffering from a mental illness may make application on behalf of that individual to the admitting psychiatrist of any hospital by presenting the individual, together with a referral from a practicing physician. Such individual may be accepted for examination and treatment by any private hospital and shall be accepted for examination and treatment by any public hospital if, in the judgment of the admitting psychiatrist, the need for such is indicated on the basis of the individual's mental condition and such individual signs a statement at the time of such admission stating that he does not object to hospitalization. Such statement shall contain in simple, nontechnical language the fact that the individual is to be hospitalized and a description of the right to release set out in subsection (b) of the section. The admitting psychiatrist ma}^ admit such an individual without referral from a practicing physician if the need for an immediate admission is apparent to the admitting psychiatrist upon preliminary examination. (b) Any person hospitalized under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall be immediately released upon his written request unless proceedings for hospitalization under court order pursuant to section 7 have been initiated. EMERGENCY

HOSPITALIZATION

SEC. 6. (a) Any duly accredited officer or agent of the Department of Public Health of the District of Columbia, or any officer authorized to make arrests in the District of Columbia, or the family physician of the individual in question, who has reason to believe that an individual is mentally ill and, because of such illness, is likely to injure himself or others if he is not immediately detained may, without a warrant, take such individual into custody, transport him to a public or private hospital, and make application for his admission thereto for purposes of emergency observation and diagnosis. Such application shall reveal the circumstances under which the individual was taken into custody and the reasons therefor. (b) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, the administrator of any private hospital, may, and the administrator of any public hospital shall, admit and detain for purposes of emergency observation and diagnosis any individual with respect to whom such application is made, if such application is accompanied by a certificate of a psychiatrist on duty at such hospital stating that he has examined the individual and is of the opinion that he has symptoms of a mental illness and, as a result thereof, is likely to injure himself or others unless he is immediately hospitalized; not later than twenty-four hours after the admission pursuant to this section of any individual to a hospital, the administrator of such hospital shall serve notice of such admission, by registered mail, to the spouse, parent, or legal guardian of such individual and to the Commission on Mental Health. (c) No individual admitted to any hospital under subsection (b) of this section shall be detained in such hospital for a period in excess of forty-eight hours from the time of his admission (unless such period shall expire on a Saturday, Sunday, or le^al holiday, then not later than noon of the next succeeding day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday) unless the administrator of such hospital has, within such period, filed a written jjetition with the court for an order authorizing the continued hospitalization of such individual for emergency observation and diagnosis for a period not to exceed seven days from the time such order is entered.

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