2023 New York Laws › MHY - Mental Hygiene › Title B - Mental Health Act › Article 9 - Hospitalization of Persons With a Mental Illness › 9.27 - Involuntary Admission on Medical Certification.

§ 9.27 Involuntary admission on medical certification.
(a)  The  director  of  a hospital may receive and retain therein as a
patient any person alleged to be mentally ill and in need of involuntary
care and treatment upon the certificates of  two  examining  physicians,
accompanied  by  an  application  for  the admission of such person. The
examination may be conducted jointly but each examining physician  shall
execute a separate certificate.
(b)  Such application must have been executed within ten days prior to
such admission. It may be executed by any one of the following:
1. any person with whom the person alleged to be mentally ill resides.
2. the father or mother, husband or wife, brother or  sister,  or  the
child of any such person or the nearest available relative.
3. the committee of such person.
4.  an officer of any public or well recognized charitable institution
or agency or home, including but not limited to the superintendent of  a
correctional  facility,  as  such  term  is  defined in paragraph (a) of
subdivision four  of  section  two  of  the  correction  law,  in  whose
institution  the  person  alleged  to  be  mentally  ill resides and the
designee authorized by the commissioner of the department of corrections
and community supervision responsible for community supervision  in  the
region where such person alleged to be mentally ill has been released to
any form of supervision following incarceration.
5.  the director of community services or social services official, as
defined in the social services law, of the city or county in  which  any
such person may be.
6.  the  director of the hospital or of a general hospital, as defined
in article twenty-eight of the public health law, in which  the  patient
is hospitalized.
7.  the  director  or person in charge of a facility providing care to
alcoholics, or substance abusers or substance dependent persons.
8. the director of the division for youth, acting in  accordance  with
the provisions of section five hundred nine of the executive law.
9.  subject to the terms of any court order or any instrument executed
pursuant to section three hundred eighty-four-a of the  social  services
law, a social services official or authorized agency which has, pursuant
to the social services law, care and custody or guardianship and custody
of a child over the age of sixteen.
10.  subject to the terms of any court order a person or entity having
custody of a child pursuant to an order issued pursuant to section seven
hundred fifty-six or one thousand fifty-five of the family court act.
11. a qualified psychiatrist who is either supervising  the  treatment
of  or  treating such person for a mental illness in a facility licensed
or operated by the office of mental health.
(c) Such application shall contain a statement of the facts upon which
the allegation of mental illness and need for  care  and  treatment  are
based  and  shall  be  executed  under  penalty of perjury but shall not
require the signature of a notary public thereon.
(d)  Before  an  examining  physician  completes  the  certificate  of
examination  of  a  person  for involuntary care and treatment, he shall
consider alternative forms of care and treatment that might be  adequate
to   provide  for  the  person's  needs  without  requiring  involuntary
hospitalization. If the examining physician knows that the person he  is
examining  for  involuntary  care  and  treatment  has  been under prior
treatment, he shall, insofar as possible, consult with the physician  or
psychologist  furnishing  such  prior  treatment prior to completing his
certificate. Nothing in this section shall prohibit  or  invalidate  any
involuntary  admission  made  in  accordance with the provisions of this
chapter.
(e) The director of the hospital where such person  is  brought  shall
cause such person to be examined forthwith by a physician who shall be a
member of the psychiatric staff of such hospital other than the original
examining  physicians  whose certificate or certificates accompanied the
application  and,  if  such person is found to be in need of involuntary
care and treatment, he may be admitted thereto as a  patient  as  herein
provided.
(f)  Following  admission  to  a  hospital,  no patient may be sent to
another hospital by any form of involuntary admission unless the  mental
hygiene legal service has been given notice thereof.
(g)  Applications for involuntary admission of patients to residential
treatment facilities for children and youth or transfer of involuntarily
admitted patients to such facilities may be reviewed by  the  office  or
commissioner's designee serving such facility in accordance with section
9.51  of this article and in consultation with the residential treatment
facility  receiving  an  involuntary  admission  or   transfer   of   an
involuntarily admitted patient.
(h)  If  a  person  is examined and determined to be mentally ill, the
fact that such person suffers from alcohol or substance abuse shall  not
preclude commitment under this section.
(i)  After  an  application  for  the  admission  of a person has been
completed and both physicians have examined such person  and  separately
certified that he or she is mentally ill and in need of involuntary care
and  treatment  in a hospital, either physician is authorized to request
peace officers, when acting pursuant to their special duties, or  police
officers, who are members of an authorized police department or force or
of  a  sheriff's  department,  to  take  into custody and transport such
person to a hospital for determination  by  the  director  whether  such
person  qualifies  for  admission  pursuant  to  this  section. Upon the
request  of  either  physician  an  ambulance  service,  as  defined  by
subdivision  two of section three thousand one of the public health law,
is authorized to transport such person to a hospital  for  determination
by  the director whether such person qualifies for admission pursuant to
this section.