GA Code § 37-3-24 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 37 - Mental Health|Chapter 3 - Examination, Treatment, etc., for Mental Illness|Article 2 - Hospitalization and Treatment of Voluntary Patients|§ 37-3-24. Transfer of Involuntary Patients to Voluntary Status; Notice of Transfer and of Discharge of Patients So Transferred; Discharge of Transferred Patient Charged With Criminal Offense

 Any involuntary patient may apply to be transferred to voluntary status of hospitalization and shall be so transferred if he is able to understand and exercise the rights and powers of a voluntary patient unless the chief medical officer finds that this would not be in the best interest of the patient, which finding shall be entered in the patient's clinical record and signed by the chief medical officer. In any case in which such transfer to voluntary status occurs and in any case in which a patient transferred to voluntary status is discharged, notice of such transfer or discharge, as the case may be, shall be given: to the patient and his representatives; if the patient's hospitalization was ordered by the court, to the court which entered such order; if the patient was admitted to a facility under subsection (a) of Code Section 37-3-41, to the physician or psychologist executing the certificate; and, if the patient was under criminal charges, of which the facility received written notification, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to the law enforcement agency originally having custody of the patient. An involuntary patient transferred to voluntary status, which patient is under criminal charges, notice of which charges have been given in writing to the facility, may only be discharged into the physical custody of the law enforcement agency originally having custody of the patient. Such agency shall assume such custody within five days after the mailing of notification to the agency pursuant to this Code section.   (Code 1933, § 88-503.5, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1979, p. 723, § 6; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 37; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1059, § 10; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3.)   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 16, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section is applicable with respect to notices delivered on or after July 1, 2000.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Failure to comply did not give rise to medical malpractice claim.    - Trial court erred in construing Count II of the Third Complaint as a medical malpractice claim as the failure to comply with statutory notification and discharge requirements, pursuant to O.C.G.A. §§ 37-3-4,37-3-24, and37-3-95, did not involve the exercise of professional judgment or the care or treatment of the patient and, thus, that count was not subject to the medical malpractice statute of repose or the expert affidavit statute. Curles v. Psychiatric Solutions, Inc., 343 Ga. App. 719, 808 S.E.2d 237 (2017), cert. denied, No. S18C0519, 2018 Ga. LEXIS 181 (Ga. 2018), cert. denied, No. S18C0520, 2018 Ga. LEXIS 182 (Ga. 2018).   RESEARCH REFERENCES   ALR.   - Malpractice liability based on prior treatment of mental disorder alleged to relate to patient's conviction of crime, 28 A.L.R.4th 712.