§ 44-22-50 — Treatment suited to needs; least restrictive care and treatment.

(A) A patient receiving services for mental illness or alcohol and drug abuse shall receive care and treatment that is suited to his needs and which is the least restrictive appropriate care and treatment. The care and treatment must be administered skillfully, safely, and humanely with full respect for the patient's dignity and personal integrity. (B) Persons who operate facilities of the Office of Mental Health shall ensure that restrictions on a residential patient's liberty are confined to those minimally necessary to establish the therapeutic objectives for the patient. The Office of Mental Health and the Office of Substance Use Services shall make every effort to ensure that no patient is admitted to a facility unless a prior determination has been made that residence in the facility is the least restrictive setting feasible for the patient. (C) In cases of emergency admissions, when the least restrictive setting is not available, patients must be admitted to the nearest appropriate facility until the patient may be moved to the least restrictive setting. (D) No patient may remain at a level of care that is more expensive and restrictive than is warranted to meet his needs when the appropriate setting is available. (E) Patients have a right to the least restrictive conditions necessary to achieve the purposes of treatment. The facility shall make every attempt to move residents from: (1) more to less structured living; (2) larger to smaller facilities; (3) larger to smaller living units; (4) group to individual residences; (5) segregated from the community to integrated into the community living; (6) dependent to independent living.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 1991 Act No. 127, SECTION 1; 1993 Act No. 181, SECTION 1080. Code Commissioner's Note At the direction of the Code Commissioner, certain references in the S.C. Code to the State Department of Mental Health, South Carolina Mental Health Commission, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs Commission, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and other related terms were changed to reflect the restructuring of these agencies into component offices under the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, pursuant to 2025 Act No. 3, SECTION 18.