NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1961 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 512

HOUSE BILL 254

 

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR ADMISSION TO STATE HOSPITALS BY CERTIFICATES OF PHYSICIANS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  Chapter 122 of the General Statutes is hereby amended by inserting immediately preceding Section 122‑63 and immediately following Section 122‑62 the following new Section:

"Section 122‑62.1.  Admission on Certificate of Physicians. (a) Whenever two physicians duly licensed to practice medicine in this State and not related by blood or marriage to an alleged mentally disordered person shall certify, on forms to be provided by the North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control, that any person is mentally ill and is in need of care and treatment in a mental hospital, such person shall be admitted to the appropriate State Hospital on receipt of such certificate. The certificate of the physicians shall be notarized.

(b)        If the patient or any member of his family objects to admission in the manner herein provided prior to admission, the procedure outlined in G.S. 122‑46 must be followed before commitment. If, after admission, the patient or any member of his family shall object to the admission of the alleged mentally disordered person in the manner herein provided, they may, within sixty days after the admission of such patient to a State hospital, file with the Clerk of the Superior Court of the county in which such mentally disordered person resides an affidavit stating such objection. The Clerk shall then proceed to hold the hearing required by G.S. 122‑46 or G.S. 122‑43.1 and thereafter the proceeding shall be treated as one having been instituted under G.S. 122‑46."

Sec 2.  Chapter 35 of the General Statutes is hereby amended by inserting immediately following G.S. 35‑35.1 and immediately preceding Article 7 thereof, the following new Section:

"G.S. 35‑35.2.  Admission of inebriate on certificate of physicians. (a) Whenever two physicians duly licensed to practice medicine in this State and not related by blood or marriage to an alleged inebriate shall certify, on forms to be provided by the North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control, that any person is an inebriate and is in need of care and treatment in the inebriate department of a State hospital, such person shall be admitted to the appropriate State hospital on receipt of such certificate, and on arrangement with the superintendent for the authorized cost of his care and treatment. The certificate of the physicians shall be notarized.

(b)        If the patient or any member of his family shall object to the admission in the manner herein provided, they may, within sixty days after the admission of such patient to a State hospital, file with the Clerk of the Superior Court of the county in which such alleged inebriate resides an affidavit stating such objection. The Clerk shall then hold the hearing required by G.S. 122‑46 or G.S. 122‑43.1 and thereafter the proceeding shall be treated as one having been instituted under those Sections.

(c)        The North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control is authorized to determine costs and to set rates for the maintenance of inebriates so admitted.

Sec. 3.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 4.  This Act shall become effective on January 1, 1962.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 26th day of May, 1961.