§ 21-548 — Request for revocation of outpatient status; confinement pending decision on revocation of outpatient status; hearing on outpatient revocation petition.

(a) A person who has been committed under § 21-545 or § 21-545.01 and is receiving outpatient treatment may be transferred to a more restrictive treatment setting, including inpatient hospitalization, or a facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis, pursuant to a court order, after a hearing, upon the court finding, based upon clear and convincing evidence, that:

(1) The person who is committed has failed to comply with a material condition of his outpatient treatment and a more restrictive treatment alternative is required to prevent the person from injuring himself or others; or

(2) There has been a significant change in the mental illness of the person who is committed and a more restrictive treatment alternative is required to prevent the person from injuring himself or others.

(1) If the Department, hospital, facility, or mental health provider providing treatment to a person committed under § 21-545 or § 21-545.01 determines that a committed person who is receiving outpatient treatment is, as a result of mental illness, likely to injure himself or others if he is not immediately detained, the chief clinical officer of the Department, or his designee, or the chief of service of a hospital, facility, or mental health provider, may take the committed person into custody and transfer the person to an inpatient hospital setting or a facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis, or may request that an officer authorized to make arrests in the District of Columbia take the committed person into custody and transfer the person to an inpatient hospital setting or to a facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis. If the committed person is hospitalized or detained at a facility not operated by the Department, the chief of service, or his designee, from that hospital or facility shall immediately notify the chief clinical officer for the Department of the admission by telephone.

(2) Within 48 hours of a committed person’s transfer from outpatient to inpatient treatment, the Department, the hospital, or the facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis where the person is detained shall notify the court of:

(A) The committed person’s detention and provide the court with a detailed affidavit reciting the circumstances of the person’s transfer from outpatient status;

(B) The recent actions of the committed person that brought about the inpatient detention; and

(C) If known, whether the hospital, facility, or the Department has determined whether to seek a revocation of the committed person’s outpatient status for a period of more than 5 days.

(3) Within 48 hours of the committed person’s transfer to a more restrictive treatment setting, the hospital or facility shall give the committed person a copy of the notice and statement filed with the court as well as written notice of the person’s rights to release or to an adversarial judicial hearing. The hospital or facility shall notify the attorney of record of the committed person’s hospitalization or transfer to a facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis and provide the attorney with a copy of the notice and statement filed with the court.

(4) The court shall conduct an ex parte review of the notice and statement within 24 hours of filing and determine whether the change from outpatient status to inpatient status at a hospital or facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis is supported by probable cause that the committed person was likely to injure himself or other persons unless immediately hospitalized or transferred to a facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis. If the court finds that the change in the treatment setting is supported by probable cause, the hospital may detain the committed patient for 5 days from the date of the order. If the court finds that the change in the treatment setting is not supported by probable cause, the court shall order the committed person’s immediate release from the hospital or facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis. The court shall appoint counsel to represent the committed person if it is determined that the attorney of record is no longer available to represent the person about whom a notice of rehospitalization has been filed.

(5) The hospital or facility shall release the committed person at the end of 5 days from the date of the order, unless during that time the hospital, Department, or facility has filed a petition with the court to revoke outpatient treatment. The court shall schedule a hearing on the petition to revoke outpatient treatment within 21 days of the committed person’s hospitalization or detention. The court, for good cause, may continue the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, if the court finds that inpatient treatment at a hospital or facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis is the least restrictive treatment alternative available and required to prevent the person from injuring himself or others as a result of mental illness, the hospital or facility may continue to detain the committed person for the remainder of the term of commitment. If the court finds that inpatient treatment at a hospital or facility certified for emergency observation and diagnosis is not supported, the court shall order the committed person’s immediate release and return to outpatient status.

(6) The criteria set forth in § 21-526 for determining when the maximum periods of time may be extended shall apply to this section.

Legislative History

Sept. 14, 1965, 79 Stat. 757, Pub. L. 89-183, § 1; Apr. 4, 2003, D.C. Law 14-283, § 2(x), 50 DCR 917