Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 78.djvu/993

 78 STAT. ]

PUBLIC LAW 88-597-SEPT. 15, 1964

RIGHT TO C O M M U N I C A T I O N

^EXERCISE OF CERTAIN R I G H T S

SEC. 9. (a) Any person hospitalized in a public or private hospital pursuant to this Act shall be entitled (1) to communicate by sealed mail or otherwise with any individual or official a ^ n c y inside or outside the hospital, and (2) to receive uncensored mail from his attorney or personal physician. All other incoming mail or communications may be read before being delivered to the patient, if the chief of service believes such action is necessary for the medical welfare of the patient who is the intended recipient. However, any mail or other communication which is not delivered to the patient for whom it is intended shall be immediately returned to the sender. But nothing in this section shall prevent the administrator from making reasonable rules regarding visitation hours and the use of telephone and telegraph facilities. (b) Any person hospitalized in a public hospital for a mental illness shall, during his hospitalization, be entitled to medical and psychiatric care and treatment. The administrator of each public hospital shall keep records detailing all such care and treatment received by any such person and such records shall be made available, upon that person's written authorization, to his attorney or personal physician. Such records shall be preserved hj the administrator until such person has been discharged from the hospital. (c) No mechanical restraint shall be applied tx) any patient hospitalized in any public or private hospital for a mental illness unless the use of restraint is prescribed by a physician and, if so prescribed, such restraint shall be removed whenever the condition justifying its use no longer exists. Any use of a mechanical restraint, together with the reasons therefor, shall be made a part of the medical record of the patient. (d) No patient hospitalized pursuant to this Act shall, by reason of such hospitalization, be denied the right to dispose of property, execute instruments, make purchases, enter into contractual relationships, vote, and hold a driver's license, unless such patient has been adjudicated incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction and has not been restored to legal capacity. If the chief of service of the public or private hospital in which any such patient is hospitalized is of the opinion that such patient is unable to exercise any of the aforementioned rights, the chief of service shall immediately notify the patient and the patient's attorney, legal guardian, spouse, parents, or other nearest known adult relative, and the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the Commission on Mental Health, and the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia of that fact. (e) Any individual in the District of Columbia who, by reason of a judicial decree ordering his hospitalization entered prior to the date of the enactment of this Act, is considered to be mentally incompetent and is denied the right to dispose of property, execute instruments, make purchases, enter into contractual relationships, vote, or hold a driver's license solely by reason of such decree, shall, upon the expiration of the one-year period immediately following such date of enactment, be deemed to have been restored to legal capacity unless, within such one-year period, affirmative action is commenced to have such individual adjudicated mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction. (f) Any patient, and the patient's spouse, parents, or other nearest known adult relative, shall receive, upon admission of the patient to the hospital, a written statement outlining in simple, nontechnical language all release procedures provided by this Act, setting out all 31-667 0-65—63

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