N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 9.31: Involuntary admission on medical certification; patient's right to a hearing

§ 9.31 Involuntary admission on medical certification; patient's right

to a hearing.

(a) If, at any time prior to the expiration of sixty days from the

date of involuntary admission of a patient on an application supported

by medical certification, he or any relative or friend or the mental

hygiene legal service gives notice in writing to the director of request

for hearing on the question of need for involuntary care and treatment,

a hearing shall be held as herein provided. The patient or person

requesting a hearing on behalf of the patient may designate the county

where the hearing shall be held, which shall be either in the county

where the hospital is located, the county of the patient's residence, or

the county in which the hospital to which the patient was first admitted

is located. Such hearing shall be held in the county so designated,

subject to application by any interested party, including the director,

for change of venue to any other county because of the convenience of

parties or witnesses or the condition of the patient upon notice to the

persons required to be served with notice of the patient's initial

admission.

(b) It shall be the duty of the director upon receiving notice of such

request for hearing to forward forthwith a copy of such notice with a

record of the patient to the supreme court or the county court in the

county designated by the applicant, if one be designated, or if no

designation be made, then to the supreme court or the county court in

the county where such hospital is located. A copy of such notice and

record shall also be given the mental hygiene legal service.

(c) The court which receives such notice shall fix the date of such

hearing at a time not later than five days from the date such notice is

received by the court and cause the patient, any other person requesting

the hearing, the director, the mental hygiene legal service, and such

other persons as the court may determine to be advised of such date.

Upon such date, or upon such other date to which the proceeding may be

adjourned, the court shall hear testimony and examine the person alleged

to be mentally ill, if it be deemed advisable in or out of court. If it

be determined that the patient is in need of retention, the court shall

deny the application for the patient's release. If the patient is in a

psychiatric hospital maintained by a political subdivision of the state

or in a general hospital the court, upon notice to the patient and the

mental hygiene legal service and an opportunity to be heard, may order

the patient transferred to the jurisdiction of the department for

retention in a hospital operated by the state designated by the

commissioner or to a private facility having an appropriate operating

certificate for retention therein for the balance of the period for

which the hospital is authorized to retain the patient. If it appears,

however, that the relatives of the patient or a committee of his person

are willing and able properly to care for him at some place other than a

hospital, then, upon their written consent, the court may order the

transfer of the patient to the care and custody of such relatives or

such committee. If it be determined that the patient is not mentally ill

or not in need of retention, the court shall order the release of the

patient.

(d) If the court shall order the release of the patient, such patient

shall forthwith be released.

(e) The department or the director of the hospital authorized to

retain or receive and retain such patient, as the case may be, shall be

immediately furnished with a copy of the order of the court and, if a

transfer is ordered, shall immediately make provisions for the transfer

of such patient.

(f) The papers in any proceeding under this article which are filed

with the county clerk shall be sealed and shall be exhibited only to the

parties to the proceeding or someone properly interested, upon order of

the court.