N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 9.27: Involuntary admission on medical certification

§ 9.27 Involuntary admission on medical certification.

(a) The director of a hospital may receive and retain therein as a

patient any person alleged to be mentally ill and in need of involuntary

care and treatment upon the certificates of two examining physicians, or

upon the certificates of an examining physician and a psychiatric nurse

practitioner. Such certificates shall be accompanied by an application

for the admission of such person. The examination may be conducted

jointly but each certifying practitioner shall execute a separate

certificate.

(b) Such application must have been executed within ten days prior to

such admission. It may be executed by any one of the following:

1. any person with whom the person alleged to be mentally ill resides.

2. the father or mother, husband or wife, brother or sister, or the

child of any such person or the nearest available relative.

3. the committee of such person.

4. an officer of any public or well recognized charitable institution

or agency or home, including but not limited to the superintendent of a

correctional facility, as such term is defined in paragraph (a) of

subdivision four of section two of the correction law, in whose

institution the person alleged to be mentally ill resides and the

designee authorized by the commissioner of the department of corrections

and community supervision responsible for community supervision in the

region where such person alleged to be mentally ill has been released to

any form of supervision following incarceration.

5. the director of community services or social services official, as

defined in the social services law, of the city or county in which any

such person may be.

6. the director of the hospital or of a general hospital, as defined

in article twenty-eight of the public health law, in which the patient

is hospitalized.

7. the director or person in charge of a facility providing care to

alcoholics, or substance abusers or substance dependent persons.

8. the director of the division for youth, acting in accordance with

the provisions of section five hundred nine of the executive law.

9. subject to the terms of any court order or any instrument executed

pursuant to section three hundred eighty-four-a of the social services

law, a social services official or authorized agency which has, pursuant

to the social services law, care and custody or guardianship and custody

of a child over the age of sixteen.

10. subject to the terms of any court order a person or entity having

custody of a child pursuant to an order issued pursuant to section seven

hundred fifty-six or one thousand fifty-five of the family court act.

11. a qualified psychiatrist who is either supervising the treatment

of or treating such person for a mental illness in a facility licensed

or operated by the office of mental health.

(c) Such application shall contain a statement of the facts upon which

the allegation of mental illness and need for care and treatment are

based and shall be executed under penalty of perjury but shall not

require the signature of a notary public thereon.

(d) Before an examining physician or psychiatric nurse practitioner

completes the certificate of examination of a person for involuntary

care and treatment, they shall consider alternative forms of care and

treatment that might be adequate to provide for the person's needs

without requiring involuntary hospitalization. If the examining

physician or psychiatric nurse practitioner knows that the person they

are examining for involuntary care and treatment has been under prior

treatment, they shall, insofar as possible, consult with the physician

or psychologist furnishing such prior treatment prior to completing

their certificate. Nothing in this section shall prohibit or invalidate

any involuntary admission made in accordance with the provisions of this

chapter.

(e) The director of the hospital where such person is brought shall

cause such person to be examined forthwith by a physician who shall be a

member of the psychiatric staff of such hospital other than the original

examining physicians or psychiatric nurse practitioner whose certificate

or certificates accompanied the application and, if such person is found

to be in need of involuntary care and treatment, they may be admitted

thereto as a patient as herein provided.

(f) Following admission to a hospital, no patient may be sent to

another hospital by any form of involuntary admission unless the mental

hygiene legal service has been given notice thereof.

(g) Applications for involuntary admission of patients to residential

treatment facilities for children and youth or transfer of involuntarily

admitted patients to such facilities may be reviewed by the office or

commissioner's designee serving such facility in accordance with section

9.51 of this article and in consultation with the residential treatment

facility receiving an involuntary admission or transfer of an

involuntarily admitted patient.

(h) If a person is examined and determined to be mentally ill, the

fact that such person suffers from alcohol or substance abuse shall not

preclude commitment under this section.

(i) After an application for the admission of a person has been

completed and both certifying practitioners have examined such person

and separately certified that such person is mentally ill and in need of

involuntary care and treatment in a hospital, either certifying

practitioner is authorized to request peace officers, when acting

pursuant to their special duties, or police officers, who are members of

an authorized police department or force or of a sheriff's department,

to take into custody and transport such person to a hospital for

determination by the director whether such person qualifies for

admission pursuant to this section. Upon the request of either

certifying practitioner, an ambulance service, as defined by subdivision

two of section three thousand one of the public health law, is

authorized to transport such person to a hospital for determination by

the director whether such person qualifies for admission pursuant to

this section.