GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1995 SESSION
CHAPTER 336
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 122C-57 reads as rewritten:
"§ 122C-57. Right to treatment and consent to treatment.
(a) Each client who is
admitted to and is receiving services from a facility has the right to receive
age-appropriate treatment for mental health, mental retardation, and substance
abuse illness or disability. Each client within 30 days of admission to a
facility shall have an individual written treatment or habilitation plan
implemented by the facility. The client and his the client's legally
responsible person shall be informed in advance of the potential risks and
alleged benefits of the treatment choices.
(b) Each client has the right to be free from unnecessary or excessive medication. Medication shall not be used for punishment, discipline, or staff convenience.
(c) Medication shall be administered in accordance with accepted medical standards and only upon the order of a physician as documented in the client's record.
(d) Each voluntarily
admitted client or his the client's legally responsible person
has the right to consent to or refuse any treatment offered by the facility.
Consent may be withdrawn at any time by the person who gave the consent. If
treatment is refused, the qualified professional shall determine whether
treatment in some other modality is possible. If all appropriate treatment
modalities are refused, the voluntarily admitted client may be discharged. In
an emergency, a voluntarily admitted client may be administered treatment or
medication, other than those specified in subsection (f) of this section,
despite the refusal of the client or his the client's legally
responsible person. The Commission may adopt rules to provide a procedure to be
followed when a voluntarily admitted client refuses treatment.
(d)(1) Except as provided in G.S. 90-21.4, discharge of a voluntarily admitted minor from treatment shall include notice to and consultation with the minor's legally responsible person and in no event shall a minor be discharged from treatment upon the minor's request alone.
(e) In the case of an
involuntarily committed client, treatment measures other than those requiring
express written consent as specified in subsection (f) of this section may be
given despite the refusal of the client or his the client's legally
responsible person in the event of an emergency or when consideration of side
effects related to the specific treatment measure is given and in the professional
judgment, as documented in the client's record, of the treating physician and a
second physician, who is either the director of clinical services of the
facility, or his that person's designee, either:
(1) The client, without
the benefit of the specific treatment measure, is incapable of participating in
any available treatment plan which will give him the client a
realistic opportunity of improving his condition;
(2) There is, without the
benefit of the specific treatment measure, a significant possibility that the
client will harm himself or others before improvement of his the
client's condition is realized.
(f) Treatment
involving electroshock therapy, the use of experimental drugs or procedures, or
surgery other than emergency surgery may not be given without the express and
informed written consent of the client or his the client's legally
responsible person. This consent may be withdrawn at any time by the person who
gave the consent. The Commission may adopt rules specifying other therapeutic
and diagnostic procedures that require the express and informed written consent
of the client or his the client's legally responsible person
prior to their initiation."
Sec. 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 1995, and applies to admissions on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 27th day of June, 1995.
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Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate
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Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives