--- title: O.C.G.A. § 37-3-165. Mistreatment, neglect, or abuse of patients prohibited; use of medication, physical restraints, or seclusion restricted; standards for use of physical restraint. collection: code id: 37-3-165 cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 37-3-165 (2025) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-165 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-165.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-165/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=214 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/37-3-164.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-166.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 / RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF PATIENTS, THEIR REPRESENTATIVES, ETC., GENERALLY / RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES AS TO MANNER OF CARE AND TREATMENT AND AS TO MAINTENANCE AND RELEASE OF CLINICAL RECORDS --- # O.C.G.A. § 37-3-165. Mistreatment, neglect, or abuse of patients prohibited; use of medication, physical restraints, or seclusion restricted; standards for use of physical restraint. (a) Mistreatment, neglect, or abuse in any form of any patient is prohibited. Medication in quantities that interfere with the patient’s treatment program is prohibited. All medication, seclusion, or physical restraints are to be used solely for the purposes of providing effective treatment and protecting the safety of the patient and other persons. (b) Physical restraints shall not be applied unless they are determined by an attending physician, a psychologist involved in the care and treatment of a patient, or a clinical nurse specialist in psychiatric/ mental health involved in the care and treatment of the patient to be absolutely necessary in order to prevent a patient from seriously injuring himself or herself or others and are required by the patient’s medical needs. Such determination shall expire after 24 hours. An attending physician, a psychologist involved in the care and treatment of a patient, or a clinical nurse specialist in psychiatric/mental health involved in the care and treatment of the patient must then make a new determination before the restraint may be continued. Every use of a restraint and the reasons therefor shall be made a part of the clinical record of the patient. A copy of each such entry or a summary of such entries shall be forwarded to the chief medical officer for review. A patient placed in physical restraint shall be checked at least every 30 minutes by staff trained in the use of restraints and a written record of such checks shall be made. When the application of a restraint is necessary in emergency situations to protect the patient from immediate injury to himself or herself or to others, restraints may be authorized by attending staff who must immediately report the action taken to the physician and any psychologist involved in the care and treatment of the patient. The facility shall have written policies and procedures which govern the use of restraints and which clearly delineate, in descending order, the personnel who can authorize the use of restraints in emergency situations. (c) For the purposes of this Code section, those devices which restrain movement, but are applied for protection from accidental injury or required for the medical treatment of the patient’s physical condition or for supportive or corrective needs of the patient, shall not be considered physical restraints. However, devices used in such situations must be authorized and applied in compliance with the facility’s policies and procedures. The use of such devices shall be a part of the patient’s individualized service plan. ## History Ga. L. 1958, p. 697, § 16; Ga. L. 1960, p. 837, § 15; Code 1933, § 88-515, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-502.4, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-502.5, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 937, §§ 4, 9; Ga. L. 1997, p. 911, § 4. ## Cross References Abuse or mistreatment of hospital patients, residents of long-term care facilities, and other institutions, §§ 31-7-9, 31-8-50 et seq., 31-8-80 et seq., 31-8-100 et seq. Rights of mentally ill persons regarding consent to surgical or medical treatment generally, § 31-9-4.