§ 15.25 — Admission and retention of certain non-objecting residents

§ 15.25 Admission and retention of certain non-objecting residents.\n (a) The director of any school may receive and retain therein as a\nresident any person in need of care and treatment who does not object\nthereto and who is so profoundly or severely developmentally disabled\nthat he does not have sufficient understanding to make him suitable for\nadmission as a voluntary resident upon an application, accompanied by a\ncertificate of an examining physician or certified psychologist. The\napplication shall conform to the requirements for an application set\nforth in section 15.27 of this article. The certificate of the examining\nphysician or certified psychologist, in addition to the other\nrequirements for such certificate set forth in this article, must show\nthat the person sought to be admitted meets the requirements of this\nsection.\n (b) The director of the school where such person is brought shall\ncause such person to be examined forthwith by a staff physician of such\nschool other than the original examining physician or certified\npsychologist whose certificate accompanied the application and, if such\nperson is found to be suitable for admission under this section, he may\nbe admitted thereto as a resident and retained therein for care and\ntreatment.\n (c) If notice in writing that the resident be released from the school\nis given to the director by the resident or any person on his behalf or\nby the mental hygiene legal service, the director shall promptly release\nthe resident; provided, however, that, if there are reasonable grounds\nfor belief that the resident may be in need of involuntary care and\ntreatment, the director may retain the resident for a period not to\nexceed seventy-two hours from the receipt of such notice. Before the\nexpiration of such seventy-two hour period, the director shall either\nrelease the resident or apply to a court of record in the county where\nthe school is located for an order authorizing the involuntary retention\nof such resident. The application and proceedings in connection\ntherewith shall be in the manner prescribed in this article for a court\nauthorization to retain an involuntary resident, except that notice of\nsuch application shall be served forthwith and, if a hearing be\ndemanded, the date for hearing to be fixed by the court shall be at a\ntime not later than three days from the date such notice has been\nreceived by the court. If it be determined by the court that the\nresident has a developmental disability and is in need of retention for\ninvoluntary care and treatment in the school, the court shall forthwith\nissue an order authorizing the retention of such resident for care and\ntreatment in the school for a period not exceeding sixty days from the\ndate of such order. Further applications for retention of the resident\nfor periods not exceeding one year, and successive two year periods\nthereafter, respectively, may thereafter be made in accordance with the\nprovisions of this article.\n (d) The director shall cause written notice of a person's admission\npursuant to this section to be given forthwith to the mental hygiene\nlegal service. The mental hygiene legal service shall promptly review\nsuch admission. Thereafter, the mental hygiene legal service and the\ndirector of the school shall make a review of such resident's retention\npursuant to this section at least once during each twelve month period\nof retention.\n