§ 40.1-22-6. Admission as a resident in a facility.
(a) Any person alleged to be developmentally disabled, warranting observation and possible
residential care and treatment in a facility, public or private, as herein defined,
who is not held to answer presently to a criminal charge may be admitted to and received
and retained as a resident in a facility by complying with any one of the following
admission procedures applicable to the case:
(1) Voluntary admission; or
(2) Admission on a certificate of one physician and a team evaluation certificate.
(b) The director shall prescribe and furnish forms for use in the procedures for admission
under this section, and admission shall be had only upon such forms.
(c) A developmentally disabled person, as herein described in this chapter, shall be admitted
to a facility as herein defined, designated by the director, or pursuant to an administrative
order authorized by law, or pursuant to an authorization, or order of a court of competent
jurisdiction.
(d) No member of a team, or any physician signing a certificate for emergency admission,
shall be related by blood or marriage to the person applying for the admission of
a person alleged to be developmentally disabled or to the person alleged to be developmentally
disabled; nor shall he or she be a guardian or conservator of the person; nor shall
he or she have any interest, contractually, testamentary, or otherwise (other than
reasonable and proper charges for professional services rendered), in or against the
estate or assets of the person alleged to be developmentally disabled; nor shall he
or she be a manager, trustee, proprietor, officer, stockholder, or have any pecuniary
interest, directly, or indirectly, or except as otherwise provided, be a director
or resident physician, in any facility to which it is proposed to admit the person.
(e) A certificate, as required by this section, must show that the person is developmentally
disabled as herein defined, and unable to function independently, and if required
to be made by one examining physician, that the physician made an examination of the
person alleged to be developmentally disabled within ten (10) days next before and
inclusive of the date of admission unless otherwise herein provided. The date of the
certificate shall be the date of the commencement of the examination, and in the event
the examination or examinations are conducted separately or over a period of days,
then the ten (10) day period above referred to (unless otherwise expressly provided)
shall be measured from the date of the commencement of the first examination. The
certificate shall contain the reasons upon which the judgment of the physician is
based and shall show that the condition of the person examined is such as to require
development, education, rehabilitation, and care in a facility as herein defined,
and shall contain such other information as the director by rule or regulation shall
require.
(f)(1) A developmentally disabled person shall enjoy all the civil and constitutional rights
conferred on citizens or residents of the state (as the case may be) by the constitution
and laws of the United States and of this state, except as expressly otherwise provided
by law.
(2) No person of eighteen (18) years of age or older shall be admitted to, detained in,
or returned to a state residential facility against his or her will unless he or she
has been adjudicated incompetent, has been admitted on any ten (10) day one physician
certificate basis, or as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter.
(3) As soon as reasonably practicable upon the admission as provided by this section of
any patient to any facility, the superintendent or official in charge thereof shall
inform the client of his or her rights to have a judicial hearing and review, to be
represented by counsel and to seek independent professional opinion; and further,
pursuant to rules established by the director, each client upon admission shall be
given the opportunity to communicate by telephone, or if not possible, by the next
expeditious method, with any person.
(g) As to all persons admitted to any facility pursuant to this section, the director
may make a request of the superintendent or official in charge of any facility to
examine at any time a record of admission which shall contain such information as
the director by rule or regulation may require. Similarly, the director may examine
records of transfers, discharges, conditional releases, and revocation of conditional
releases, as well as other dispositions of cases of clients admitted hereunder.
(h) No requirement shall be made, by rule, regulation, or otherwise, as a condition to
admission and retention, that any person applying for admission shall have the legal
capacity to contract.