Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 37. MENTAL HEALTH · Chapter 3. EXAMINATION, TREATMENT, ETC., FOR MENTAL ILLNESS · Article 6. RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF PATIENTS, THEIR REPRESENTATIVES, ETC., GENERALLY · Part 2. RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES AS TO MANNER OF CARE AND TREATMENT AND AS TO MAINTENANCE AND RELEASE OF CLINICAL RECORDS

37-3-160. Individual dignity of patients to be respected; treatment of the mentally ill as medical patients; use of criminal facilities and procedures.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

The patient’s dignity as an individual shall be respected at all times and upon all occasions, including any occasion wherein the patient is taken into custody, detained, or transported. Mentally ill patients or those suspected of being mentally ill shall, to the maximum extent reasonably possible, be treated at all times as medical patients. All patients shall be treated by a physician or psychologist acting within the scope of his or her license. Except where required under conditions of extreme urgency, those procedures, facilities, vehicles, and restraining devices normally utilized for criminals or those accused of crime shall not be used in connection with the mentally ill.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1933, § 88-502.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-502.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1902, § 12.

Law reviews

For article, ‘‘Distinctive Factors Affecting the Legal Context of End-Of-Life Medical Care for Older Persons,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 869 (2017). For article, ‘‘Ending-Life Decisions: Some Disability Perspectives,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 893 (2017). For article, ‘‘Unbefriended and Unrepresented: Better Medical Decision Making for Incapacitated Patients Without Healthcare Surro-gates,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 923 (2017). For article, ‘‘Exploring the Right to Die in the U.S.,’’ see 33 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 1021 (2017). For note comparing procedures for hospitalization of the mentally ill in Georgia to other jurisdictions and suggesting improvements, see 7 Mercer L. Rev. 361 (1956).

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Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t37-t39-(v28)-2021-pdf.pdf, Volume V28, 2021 edition, page 207; merge action: carried; file SHA-256 4eed692485f5.