CHAPTER 110
HB 431 – FINAL VERSION
15Mar2011… 0478h
2011 SESSION
01/04
HOUSE BILL 431
AN ACT relative to psychiatric evaluations.
SPONSORS: Rep. Bouchard, Merr 11
This bill allows the court to determine if the psychiatric evaluation shall be available to the receiving facility in a nonemergency involuntary admission.
This bill is a request of the department of health and human services.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15Mar2011… 0478h
11-0832
01/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT relative to psychiatric evaluations.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
110:1 Mental Health Services System; Conduct of Hearing; Report. Amend RSA 135-C:43 to read as follows:
135-C:43 Conduct of Hearing.
I. For hearings held under this chapter, the person sought to be admitted shall have the right to legal counsel, to present evidence on his or her own behalf, to have a closed hearing and a closed file unless he or she requests otherwise, and to cross-examine witnesses. He or she shall also have the right to summon as a witness the psychiatrist who filed the report pursuant to RSA 135-C:40 and to cross-examine him or her. A transcript, which may consist only of any audio recording of the proceedings, and at the court’s discretion, shall be made of the entire proceeding. The transcript may serve as the basis for an appeal and the costs of the transcript shall be apportioned, within the judge’s discretion, between the state and the person sought to be admitted. The transcript or recording shall be retained by the court for 2 years or until official notice is received of discharge, if the person is admitted on an involuntary basis and subsequently discharged.
II. If the court determines that involuntary admission to a receiving facility is necessary, the court, at the nonemergency involuntary admission hearing, shall determine if the psychiatric evaluation performed by the psychiatrist designated by the court shall be available to the designated receiving facility, as defined in RSA 135-C:26, or the secure psychiatric unit. Before the court determines whether to provide the psychiatric evaluation to the designated receiving facility or to the secure psychiatric unit, the court shall provide the person sought to be admitted with an opportunity to object. The court shall consider the person’s privacy interest in the content of the psychiatric evaluation and the receiving facility’s or the secure psychiatric unit’s need to review the psychiatric evaluation for purposes of treatment.
110:2 Mental Health Services System; Order of Court; Psychiatric Evaluation. Amend RSA 135-C:45, I to read as follows:
I. In hearings held under this chapter, after hearing all the evidence, the court may order the respondent to be released, notwithstanding expert testimony, or it may order the person to submit to some form of treatment other than inpatient treatment on an involuntary basis, which may include treatment at a community mental health program approved by the commissioner. If the examining psychiatrist recommends involuntary admission to a receiving facility as the most desirable form of treatment, the court may so order. The court may furnish a copy of the psychiatric evaluation, pursuant to RSA 135-C:43, II, performed by the psychiatrist designated by the court to the designated receiving facility, as defined in RSA 135-C:26, or the secure psychiatric unit. If the court determines that involuntary admission to a receiving facility is necessary, but the examining psychiatrist finds otherwise in his report under RSA 135-C:40, the court may overrule the recommendation of the psychiatrist only after the court finds that treatment other than involuntary admission to a receiving facility would not be in the best interests of the person and the community.
110:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved: May 31, 2011
Effective Date: May 31, 2011