HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	310
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to health.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to increase the likelihood that persons suffering from severe mental illness or substance abuse will receive timely and appropriate care and treatment, whether when brought to an emergency department for evaluation, hospitalized in a psychiatric facility under an emergency hospitalization or involuntary commitment order, or while being considered for assisted community treatment.

SECTION 2. Section 334-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "imminently dangerous to self or others" to read as follows:

""Imminently dangerous to self or others" means that, without intervention, the person will likely become dangerous to self or dangerous to others within the next [forty-five] ninety days."

SECTION 3. Section 334-59, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

"(d) Emergency hospitalization. If the psychiatrist or advanced practice registered nurse [with] having prescriptive authority and who holds an accredited national certification in an advanced practice registered nurse psychiatric specialization who performs [the] an emergency examination in a hospital has reason to believe that the patient is:

(1) Mentally ill or suffering from substance abuse;

(2) Imminently dangerous to self or others; and

(3) In need of care or treatment, or both;

the psychiatrist or advanced practice registered nurse [with] having prescriptive authority and who holds an accredited national certification in an advanced practice registered nurse psychiatric specialization [shall] may direct that the patient be hospitalized on an emergency basis or cause the patient to be transferred to another psychiatric facility for emergency hospitalization, or both. The patient shall have the right immediately upon admission to telephone the patient's guardian or a family member including a reciprocal beneficiary, or an adult friend and an attorney. If the patient declines to exercise that right, the staff of the facility shall inform the adult patient of the right to waive notification to the family, including a reciprocal beneficiary, and shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the patient's guardian or family, including a reciprocal beneficiary, is notified of the emergency admission but the patient's family, including a reciprocal beneficiary, need not be notified if the patient is an adult and requests that there be no notification. The patient shall be allowed to confer with an attorney in private.

A patient who is seen in an emergency department or hospitalized on an emergency basis pursuant to this subsection, diagnosed with a serious mental illness or severe substance use disorder pursuant to subsection (b), and found to be lacking decisional capacity by a psychiatrist, or by an advanced practice registered nurse having prescriptive authority and who holds an accredited national certification in an advanced practice registered nurse psychiatric specialization, may be involuntarily treated until a psychiatrist, or an advanced practice registered nurse having prescriptive authority and who holds an accredited national certification in an advanced practice registered nurse psychiatric specialization, determines that the patient has regained decisional capacity."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Mental Illness; Substance Abuse; "Imminently Dangerous" Standard; Emergency Hospitalization

Description:

Amends the definition of "imminently dangerous to self or others". Authorizes the involuntary treatment of patients who are subject to emergency hospitalization, diagnosed with a serious mental illness or severe substance use disorder, and found to be lacking decisional capacity.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.