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§43A-6-201.
§43A-6-201.
The Interstate Compact on Mental Health is hereby enacted into law and
entered into by this state with all other states legally joining
therein in the form substantially as follows: the contracting states
solemnly agree that:
ARTICLE I
The party states find that the proper and expeditious treatment of the
mentally ill and mentally deficient can be facilitated by cooperative
action, to the benefit of the patients, their families, and society as
a whole. Further, the party states find that the necessity of and
desirability for furnishing such care and treatment bears no primary
relation to the residence or citizenship of the patient but that, on
the contrary, the controlling factors of community safety and
humanitarianism require that facilities and services be made available
for all who are in need of them. Consequently, it is the purpose of
this compact and of the party states to provide the necessary legal
basis for the institutionalization or other appropriate care and
treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient under a system
that recognizes the paramount importance of patient welfare and to
establish the responsibilities of the party states in terms of such
welfare.
ARTICLE II
As used in this compact:
(a) "Sending state" shall mean a party state from which a patient is
transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or from which it
is contemplated that a patient may be so sent.
(b) "Receiving state" shall mean a party state to which a patient is
transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or to which it
is contemplated that a patient may be so sent.
(c) "Institution" shall mean any hospital or other facility maintained
by a party state or political subdivision thereof for the care and
treatment of mental illness or mental deficiency.
(d) "Patient" shall mean any person subject to or eligible as
determined by the laws of the sending state, for institutionalization
or other care, treatment, or supervision pursuant to the provisions of
this compact.
(e) "After-care" shall mean care, treatment and services provided a
patient, as defined herein, on convalescent status or conditional
release.
(f) "Mental illness" shall mean mental disease to such extent that a
person so afflicted requires care and treatment for his own welfare,
or the welfare of others, or of the community.
(g) "Mental deficiency" shall mean mental deficiency as defined by
appropriate clinical authorities to such extent that a person so
afflicted is incapable of managing himself and his affairs, but shall
not include mental illness as defined herein.
(h) "State" shall mean any state, territory or possession of the
United States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico.
ARTICLE III
(a) Whenever a person physically present in any party state shall be
in need of institutionalization by reason of mental illness or mental
deficiency, he shall be eligible for care and treatment in an
institution in that state irrespective of his residence, settlement or
citizenship qualifications.
(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this article to the contrary
notwithstanding, any patient may be transferred to an institution in
another state whenever there are factors based upon clinical
determinations indicating that the care and treatment of said patient
would be facilitated or improved thereby. Any such
institutionalization may be for the entire period of care and
treatment or for any portion or portions thereof. The factors referred
to in this paragraph shall include the patient's full record with due
regard for the location of the patient's family, character of the
illness and probable duration thereof, and such other factors as shall
be considered appropriate.
(c) No state shall be obliged to receive any patient pursuant to the
provisions of paragraph (b) of this article unless the sending state
has given advance notice of its intention to send the patient;
furnished all available medical and other pertinent records concerning
the patient; given the qualified medical or other appropriate clinical
authorities of the receiving state an opportunity to examine the
patient if said authorities so wish; and unless the receiving state
shall agree to accept the patient.
(d) In the event that the laws of the receiving state establish a
system of priorities for the admission of patients, an interstate
patient under this compact shall receive the same priority as a local
patient and shall be taken in the same order and at the same time that
he would be taken if he were a local patient.
(e) Pursuant to this compact, the determination as to the suitable
place of institutionalization for a patient may be reviewed at any
time and such further transfer of the patient may be made as seems
likely to be in the best interest of the patient.
ARTICLE IV
(a) Whenever, pursuant to the laws of the state in which a patient is
physically present, it shall be determined that the patient should
receive aftercare or supervision, such care or supervision may be
provided in a receiving state. If the medical or other appropriate
clinical authorities having responsibility for the care and treatment
of the patient in the sending state shall have reason to believe that
aftercare in another state would be in the best interest of the
patient and would not jeopardize the public safety, they shall request
the appropriate authorities in the receiving state to investigate the
desirability of affording the patient such aftercare in said receiving
state, and such investigation shall be made with all reasonable speed.
The request for investigation shall be accompanied by complete
information concerning the patient's intended place of residence and
the identity of the person in whose charge it is proposed to place the
patient, the complete medical history of the patient, and such other
documents as may be pertinent.
(b) If the medical or other appropriate clinical authorities having
responsibility for the care and treatment of the patient in the
sending state and the appropriate authorities in the receiving state
find that the best interest of the patient would be served thereby,
and if the public safety would not be jeopardized thereby, the patient
may receive aftercare or supervision in the receiving state.
(c) In supervising, treating, or caring for a patient on aftercare,
pursuant to the terms of this article, a receiving state shall employ
the same standards of visitation, examination, care, and treatment
that it employs for similar local patients.
ARTICLE V
Whenever a dangerous or potentially dangerous patient escapes from an
institution in any party state, that state shall promptly notify all
appropriate authorities within and without the jurisdiction of the
escape in a manner reasonably calculated to facilitate the speedy
apprehension of the escapee. Immediately upon the apprehension and
identification of any such dangerous or potentially dangerous patient,
he shall be detained in the state where found pending disposition in
accordance with law.
ARTICLE VI
The duly-accredited officers of any state party to this compact, upon
the establishment of their authority and the identity of the patient,
shall be permitted to transport any patient being moved pursuant to
this compact through any and all states party to this compact, without
interference.
ARTICLE VII
(a) No person shall be deemed a patient of more than one institution
at any given time. Completion of transfer of any patient to an
institution in a receiving state shall have the effect of making the
person a patient of the institution in the receiving state.
(b) The sending state shall pay all costs of and incidental to the
transportation of any patient pursuant to this compact, but any two or
more party states may, by making a specific agreement for that
purpose, arrange for a different allocation of costs as among
themselves.
(c) No provision of this compact shall be construed to alter or affect
any internal relationships among the departments, agencies and
officers of and in the government of a party state, or between a party
state and its subdivisions, as to the payment of costs, or
responsibilities therefor.
(d) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to prevent any party
state or subdivision thereof from asserting any right against any
person, agency or other entity in regard to costs for which such party
state or subdivision thereof may be responsible pursuant to any
provision of this compact.
(e) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to invalidate any
reciprocal agreement between a party state and a nonparty state
relating to institutionalization, care or treatment of the mentally
ill or mentally deficient, or any statutory authority pursuant to
which such agreements may be made.
ARTICLE VIII
(a) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to abridge, diminish,
or in any way impair the rights, duties, and responsibilities of any
patient's guardian on his own behalf or in respect of any patient for
whom he may serve, except that where the transfer of any patient to
another jurisdiction makes advisable the appointment of a supplemental
or substitute guardian, any court of competent jurisdiction in the
receiving state may make such supplemental or substitute appointment
and the court which appointed the previous guardian shall upon being
duly advised of the new appointment, and upon the satisfactory
completion of such accounting and other acts as such court may by law
require, relieve the previous guardian of power and responsibility to
whatever extent shall be appropriate in the circumstances; provided,
however, that in the case of any patient having settlement in the
sending state, the court of competent jurisdiction in the sending
state shall have the sole discretion to relieve a guardian appointed
by it or continue his power and responsibility, whichever it shall
deem advisable. The court in the receiving state may, in its
discretion, confirm or reappoint the person or persons previously
serving as guardian in the sending state in lieu of making a
supplemental or substitute appointment.
(b) The term "guardian" as used in paragraph (a) of this article shall
include any guardian, trustee, legal committee, conservator, or other
person or agency however denominated who is charged by law with power
to act for or responsibility for the person or property of a patient.
ARTICLE IX
(a) No provision of this compact except Article V shall apply to any
person institutionalized while under sentence in a penal or
correctional institution or while subject to trial on a criminal
charge, or whose institutionalization is due to the commission of an
offense for which, in the absence of mental illness or mental
deficiency, said person would be subject to incarceration in a penal
or correctional institution.
(b) To every extent possible, it shall be the policy of states party
to this compact that no patient shall be placed or detained in any
prison, jail or lockup, but such patient shall, with all expedition,
be taken to a suitable institutional facility for mental illness or
mental deficiency.
ARTICLE X
(a) Each party state shall appoint a "compact administrator" who, on
behalf of his state, shall act as general coordinator of activities
under the compact in his state and who shall receive copies of all
reports, correspondence, and other documents relating to any patient
processed under the compact by his state either in the capacity of
sending or receiving state. The compact administrator or his duly
designated representative shall be the official with whom other party
states shall deal in any matter relating to the compact or any patient
processed thereunder.
(b) The compact administrators of the respective party states shall
have power to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations to carry out
more effectively the terms and provisions of this compact.
ARTICLE XI
The duly constituted administrative authorities of any two or more
party states may enter into supplementary agreements for the provision
of any service or facility or for the maintenance of any institution
on a joint or cooperative basis whenever the states concerned shall
find that such agreements will improve services, facilities, or
institutional care and treatment in the fields of mental illness or
mental deficiency. No such supplementary agreement shall be construed
so as to relieve any party state of any obligation which it otherwise
would have under other provisions of this compact.
ARTICLE XII
This compact shall enter into full force and effect as to any state
when enacted by it into law and such state shall thereafter be a party
thereto with any and all states legally joining therein.
ARTICLE XIII
(a) A state party to this compact may withdraw therefrom by enacting a
statute repealing the same. Such withdrawal shall take effect one (1)
year after notice thereof has been communicated officially and in
writing to the governors and compact administrators of all other party
states. However, the withdrawal of any state shall not change the
status of any patient who has been sent to said state or sent out of
said state pursuant to the provisions of the compact.
(b) Withdrawal from any agreement permitted by Article VII(b) as to
costs or from any supplementary agreement made pursuant to Article XI
shall be in accordance with the terms of such agreement.
ARTICLE XIV
This compact shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate the
purposes thereof. The provisions of this compact shall be severable
and if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this compact is
declared to be contrary to the constitution of any party state or of
the United States or the applicability thereof to any government,
agency, person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the
remainder of this compact and the applicability thereof to any
government, agency, person or circumstance shall not be affected
thereby. If this compact shall be held contrary to the constitution of
any state party thereto, the compact shall remain in full force and
effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to
the state affected as to all severable matters.
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