Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 79.djvu/791

 79 STAT. ]

PUBLIC LAW 89-183-SEPT. 14, 1965

751

Subchapter I—Definitions; Commission on Mental Health §21-501. Definitions As used in the chapter: "administrator" means a person in charge of a public or private hospital or his delegate I .. . "chief of service means the physician charged with overall responsibility for the professional program of care and treatment in the particular administrative unit of the hospital to which the patient has been admitted or such other member of the medical staff as the chief of service designates; "Commission" means the Commission on Mental Health; "court" means the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; j "mental illness" means a psychosis or other disease which substantially impairs the mental health of a person; "mentally ill person" means a person who has a mental illness, but does not include a person committed to a private or public hospital in the District of Columbia by order of the court in a criminal proceeding; "physician" means a person licensed under the laws of the District of Columbia to practice medicine, or a person who practices medicine in the employment of the Government of the United States or of the District of Columbia; "private hospital" means a nongovernmental hospital or institution, or part thereof, in the District of Columbia, equipped and qualified to provide inpatient care and treatment for a person suffering from a physical or mental illness; and "public hospital" means a hospital or institution, or part thereof, in the District of Columbia, owned and operated by the Government of the United States or of the District of Columbia, equipped and Qualified to provide inpatient care and treatment for persons suffering trom physical or mental illness. §21-502. Commission on Mental Health; composition; appointment and terms of members; organization; chairman; salaries (a) The Commission on Mental Health is continued. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia shall appoint the members of the Commission, and the Commission shall be composed of nine members. One member shall be a member of the bar of the court, who has engaged in active practice of law in the District of Columbia for a period of at least five years prior to his appointment. He shall be the Chairman of the Commission and act as the administrative head of the Commission and its staff. H e shall preside at all hearings and direct all of the proceedings before the Commission. H e shall devote his entire time to the work of the Commission. Eight members of the Commission shall be physicians who have been practicing medicine in the District of Columbia and who have had not less than five years' experience in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. (b) Appointment of members of the Commission shall be for terms of four years each, which shall be staggered as provided by section 2 of the Act approved June 8, 1938 (chapter 326, 52 Stat. ^//Stat. 953. 625), under which, except for the original four-year term of the 954. lawyer-member, staggered terms of one year for two members, two years for two members, three years for two members, and four years for two members, were made. (c) The physician-members of the Commission shall serve on a part-time basis and shall be rotated by assignment of the Chief

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