Source: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE40.1/40.1-9/40.1-9-1.HTM
Timestamp: 2017-11-20 06:06:40
Document Index: 186757927

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 40', '§ 1', '§ 26', '§ 1', '§ 109', '§ 109']

40.1-9-1
CHAPTER 40.1-9
SECTION 40.1-9-1
§ 40.1-9-1 Enactment of compact.
The party states find that the proper and expeditious treatment of persons who are mentally ill and developmentally disabled 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 people who are mentally ill and developmentally disabled 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.
(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 developmental disabilities.
(f) "Mental illness" shall mean mental disease to such extent that a person so afflicted requires care and treatment for his or her own welfare, or the welfare of others, or of the community.
(g) "Developmentally disabled" shall mean developmentally disabled as defined by appropriate clinical authorities to such extent that a person so afflicted is incapable of managing him or herself and his or her affairs, but shall not include mental illness as defined herein.
(a) Whenever a person physically present in any party state shall be in need of institutionalization by reason of mental illness or developmental disability, he or she shall be eligible for care and treatment in an institution in that state irrespective of his or her residence, settlement or citizenship qualifications.
(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 or she would be taken if he or she were a local patient.
(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 persons who are mentally ill or developmental disabled, or any statutory authority pursuant to which such agreements may be made.
(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 or her own behalf or in respect of any patient for whom he or she 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 or her 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.
(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 developmental disability, 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 developmental disability.
(a) Each party state shall appoint a "compact administrator" who, on behalf of his or her state, shall act as general coordinator of activities under the compact in his or her state and who shall receive copies of all reports, correspondence, and other documents relating to any patient processed under the compact by his or her state either in the capacity of sending or receiving state. The compact administrator or his or her 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.
The duly constituted administrative authorities of any two (2) 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 developmental disability. 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.
(R.P.L. 1957, ch. 20, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 26-6-1; P.L. 1979, ch. 39, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 83, § 109; P.L. 1999, ch. 130, § 109.)