To: Board of Supervisors
From: DHHS: Mental Health
Agenda Section: Consent
SUBJECT:
title
Resolution Authorizing the Application of California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5151 to Interpret the 72-Hour Clock to Start Upon Admittance to Designated Inpatient Psychiatric Facility, Sempervirens
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RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve the attached Resolution authorizing the application of California Welfare and Institutions Code 5151 to interpret the 72-hour clock to start upon admittance to designated inpatient psychiatric facility, Sempervirens, per the application of Article 1 Chapter 2 Part 1 of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code (Commencing with section 5150); and
2. Find that any additional costs or reduction in costs incurred will be covered by the budget without reduction in service.
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SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Mental Health Fund
DISCUSSION:
Persons who are placed on a Welfare and Institutions Code section 5150 hold may initially be held up to seventy-two hours. The makers of the law anticipated that little or no time would elapse between the writing of the Welfare and Institutions Code section 5150 hold and admittance into the designated facility. Reality is that many patients may wait twenty-four to thirty-six hours to get admitted. It may be interpreted that the 72-hour clock start when the document is written or at the time of admittance to the designated psychiatric inpatient facility. Humboldt County currently starts this 72-hour clock at the time persons are first taken into custody under this section. However, Welfare and Institutions Code section 5151 states that if the psychiatric inpatient facility designated by the county for evaluation and treatment admits the person, it may detain him or her for evaluation and treatment for a period not to exceed seventy-two hours. This suggests the seventy-two hour start time begins upon admission to the designated psychiatric inpat...
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