SP0218
LD 681
Signed on 2007-05-29 - First Regular Session - 123rd Legislature - Text: MS-Word, RTF or PDF LR 1242
Item 1
Bill Tracking Chamber Status

An Act Concerning the Examination of Persons in Protective Custody

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 34-B MRSA §3862, sub-§1, ¶B,  as amended by PL 1999, c. 423, §4, is further amended to read:

B.  If the law enforcement officer does take the person into protective custody, shall deliver the person immediately for examination as provided in section 3863 or, for a person taken into protective custody who has an advance health care directive authorizing mental health treatment, for examination as provided in Title 18-A, section 5-802, subsection (d) to determine the individual's capacity and the existence of conditions specified in the advance health care directive for the directive to be effective. If the examination occurs in a hospital emergency room, the The examination may be performed by a licensed physician, a licensed clinical psychologist, a physician's assistant, a nurse practitioner or a certified psychiatric clinical nurse specialist. If the examination does not occur in a hospital emergency room, the examination may be performed only by a licensed physician or licensed clinical psychologist.

summary

Current law requires that a law enforcement officer who seeks to have a person involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital on an emergency basis must have that person examined by a licensed physician, a licensed clinical psychologist, a physician's assistant, a nurse practitioner or a certified psychiatric clinical nurse specialist for the purpose of determining whether that person poses a likelihood of serious harm. A related section of law says that this examination may be performed only by a licensed physician or a licensed clinical psychologist if the examination is performed outside a hospital emergency room. This bill allows the examination to be performed by any of the health care professionals authorized to conduct such examinations, whether the examination is performed in a hospital emergency room or elsewhere.


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