2023 New York Laws › MHY - Mental Hygiene › Title E - General Provisions › Article 29 - General Provisions Relating to In-Patient Facilities › 29.11 - Commissioner's Power to Transfer and Discharge Patients.

§ 29.11 Commissioner's power to transfer and discharge patients.
(a)  Subject to his regulations, the commissioner may order or approve
the transfer of a patient  from  one  facility  to  another  appropriate
facility.
(b)  A  voluntary or informal patient may be transferred only with his
consent.
(c) In the case of a voluntary patient under eighteen  years  of  age,
transfer  may  be  made  only upon the request or consent of his parent,
legal guardian, or next of kin unless such patient was admitted  on  his
own application.
(d)  No transfer shall be made to any facility other than a department
facility without the consent of the facility to  which  the  patient  is
transferred.
(e) A patient transferred to a department facility pursuant to section
67.07  of  this chapter may be detained for a period not to exceed three
days, excluding Sunday and holidays, pursuant to the laws of the sending
state, and then shall be formally admitted under the laws of this  state
or discharged.
(f)  Upon  a  determination  that  overcrowding exists in any facility
because of the scarcity of space or the destruction of existing space or
that the revocation or suspension of an operating  certificate  pursuant
to  section  13.15 of this chapter requires the removal of patients, the
commissioner shall arrange for the interim and  emergency  accommodation
of patients.
(g)  The  commissioner,  by  order,  may  discharge any patient in his
judgment improperly detained in any facility.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person committed to
the custody of the commissioner of mental hygiene  pursuant  to  article
seven  hundred  thirty  of  the  criminal procedure law, or continuously
thereafter retained in such custody, shall be  discharged,  released  on
condition  or  placed  in  any  less  secure  facility  or  on  any less
restrictive status, including, but not limited to  vacations,  furloughs
and  temporary  passes,  unless the commissioner or his or her designee,
which may include the director of an appropriate institution as  defined
in  section  730.10 of the criminal procedure law, shall deliver written
notice, at least four days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays  and  holidays,
in  advance of the change of such committed person's facility or status,
or in the case of a person  committed  pursuant  to  a  final  order  of
observation  written  notice upon discharge of such committed person, to
all of the following:
1. the district attorney of the county  from  which  such  person  was
committed;
2. the superintendent of state police;
3. the sheriff of the county where the facility is located;
4.  the  police  department  having jurisdiction of the area where the
facility is located;
5. any person who may reasonably be expected to be the victim  of  any
assault  or  any violent felony offense, as defined in the penal law, or
any offense listed in section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law which
would be carried out by the committed person; provided that  the  person
who  reasonably  may  be  expected  to be a victim does not need to be a
member of the same family or household as the committed person;
6. the attorney for the committed person, where the attorney shall  so
request; and
7. any other person the court may designate.
Said  notice  may  be given by any means reasonably calculated to give
prompt actual notice. The notice required by this subdivision shall also
be given immediately upon the departure of such  committed  person  from

the  actual  custody  of the commissioner or an appropriate institution,
without proper authorization.  Nothing  in  this  subdivision  shall  be
construed  to  impair  any  other  right or duty regarding any notice or
hearing contained in any other provision of law.
(i)  If  at  the  time  the  commissioner  orders  the  transfer of an
involuntary patient from a hospital to a hospital operated by the state,
there is pending a request for a hearing or a decision by a court on the
question of need for involuntary care and  treatment,  the  commissioner
may  either  (i)  stay  his  order  of  transfer until completion of the
hearing, or (ii) direct the transfer to take place and the  director  of
the  state  facility  shall  be  substituted  in  all  legal proceedings
regarding continued retention of the patient.
(j) When an order of transfer  is  issued  by  the  commissioner,  the
receiving  facility may retain the patient for the balance of the period
authorized in  article  nine  of  this  chapter  for  the  admission  or
retention of the patient, based on the date of admission to the facility
from which the patient was transferred.