---
title: O.C.G.A. § 37-3-104. Procedure upon discovery that a patient hospitalized in Georgia is not a resident.
collection: code
id: 37-3-104
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 37-3-104 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-104
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-104.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-104/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t37-t39-(v28)-2021-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=c6b9c518_0#page=192
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-103.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-120.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: MENTAL HEALTH / EXAMINATION, TREATMENT, ETC., FOR MENTAL ILLNESS / PLACEMENT, TRANSFER, AND TRANSPORTATION OF PATIENTS GENERALLY
---

# O.C.G.A. § 37-3-104. Procedure upon discovery that a patient hospitalized in Georgia is not a resident.

If a hospitalized patient is discovered not to be a resident, the regional state hospital administrator of the treatment facility in which the patient is hospitalized shall seek his transfer to the custody of authorities of the state of his residence or to a publicly owned or publicly operated psychiatric hospital in that state. Notwithstanding an individual’s status as a nonresident, nothing contained in this Code section shall prevent the voluntary hospitalization of such individual under this chapter for which due payment is made by such individual or others on his behalf nor shall it prevent the transfer, custody, care, or treatment of such individual in accordance with the terms of any reciprocal agreement between the State of Georgia and any other state, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States. This Code section shall not apply to persons confined to any facility operated by or under the control of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or any other federal agency.

## History

Ga. L. 1960, p. 837, § 21; Code 1933, § 88-521, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-508.4, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-507.3, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 45, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-18.

## Cross References

Rights of citizens of other states while in Georgia generally, § 1-2-9.