Alabama § 22-50-22 Exemption of Superintendent and Physician of State Mental Health Facilities from Attending as Witnesses

Alabama Statutes

§ 22-50-22 — Exemption of Superintendent and Physician of State Mental Health Facilities from Attending as Witnesses

Alabama § 22-50-22

Title 22Health, Mental Health, and Environmental Control

Ch. 50Department of Mental Health; Board of Trustees

Art. 1General Provisions

This text of Alabama § 22-50-22 (Exemption of Superintendent and Physician of State Mental Health Facilities from Attending as Witnesses) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Ala. Code § 22-50-22 (2026).

Text

Neither the superintendent nor a physician of a state mental health facility or hospital shall be compelled to attend as a witness to testify as an expert in any case or on any question of insanity or psychological medicine in the state; provided, that he shall certify, in writing, within 10 days after the service of the summons, that his absence from the facility or hospital, in his best judgment, will interfere with his or her professional duties and the welfare of the patients under his care. But defendants in criminal cases and the state by the consent of the defendant and, in civil cases, either party may take the deposition of the superintendent or of any of the physicians as to all matters involving his or their expert opinion when such testimony is admissible.

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Neither the superintendent nor a physician of a state mental health facility or hospital shall be compelled to attend as a witness to testify as an expert in any case or on any question of insanity or psychological medicine in the state; provided, that he shall certify, in writing, within 10 days after the service of the summons, that his absence from the facility or hospital, in his best judgment, will interfere with his or her professional duties and the welfare of the patients under his care. But defendants in criminal cases and the state by the consent of the defendant and, in civil cases, either party may take the deposition of the superintendent or of any of the physicians as to all matters involving his or their expert opinion when such testimony is admissible.