§ 7705 — Communication and visitation

(a) Subject to the general rules and regulations of the hospital and except to the extent that the head of the hospital determines that it is necessary for the medical welfare or needs of the patient or the hospital to impose restrictions, every patient is entitled:
(1) to communicate by sealed mail or otherwise with persons, including official agencies, inside or outside the hospital;
(2) to receive visitors and to make and receive telephone calls; and
(3) to exercise all civil rights, including the right to dispose of property, execute instruments, make purchases, enter contractual relationships, and vote on his or her own initiative, unless he or she has been adjudicated incompetent and has not been restored to legal capacity.
(b) Notwithstanding any limitations or restrictions authorized by this section on the right of communication, every patient is entitled to communicate by sealed mail with the Board, the Commissioner, his or her attorney, his or her clergyman, and the District judge, if any, who ordered his or her hospitalization. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968.)