CHAPTER 135-C NEW HAMPSHIRE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES SYSTEM
Involuntary Emergency Admissions
Section 135-C:28
135-C:28 Involuntary Emergency Admission Examination. –
I. The involuntary emergency admission of a person shall be to the state mental health services system under the supervision of the commissioner. The commissioner shall maintain a list of physicians, PAs, and APRNs, as defined in RSA 135-C:2, II-a, who are approved by either a designated receiving facility or a community mental health program approved by the commissioner. The admission may be ordered upon the certificate of an approved physician, approved PA, or approved APRN, as defined in RSA 135-C:2, II-a, provided that within 3 days of the completion of the petition the physician, PA, or APRN has conducted, or has caused to be conducted, a physical examination if indicated and circumstances permit, and a mental examination. The physician, PA, or APRN must find that the person to be admitted meets the criteria of RSA 135-C:27. The certificate shall state the time and, in detail, the nature of the examinations conducted. The certificate shall also state a specific act or actions the physician, PA, or APRN has actually observed or which have been reported to him or her by the petitioner or a reliable witness who shall be identified in the certificate, and which in the physician's, PA's, or APRN's or designee's opinion satisfy the criteria set forth in RSA 135-C:27. The physician, PA, or APRN shall inform the person of the designated receiving facility in the mental health services system that he or she will be transported to upon the facility location being identified. The admission shall be made to the facility which can best provide the degree of security and treatment required by the person and shall be consistent with the placement principles set forth in RSA 135-C:15. As used in RSA 135-C:27-33, "petitioner" means any individual, including a physician, PA, or APRN completing a certificate, who has requested that a physician, PA, or APRN conduct or who has conducted an examination for purposes of involuntary emergency admission. Every certificate shall be accompanied by a written petition signed by a petitioner.
II. Upon request for involuntary emergency admission by a petitioner, if the person sought to be admitted refuses to consent to a mental examination, a petitioner or a law enforcement officer may sign a complaint which shall be sworn to before a justice of the peace. The complaint shall be submitted to the justice of the peace with the petition. The petition shall state in detail the acts or actions of the person sought to be admitted which the petitioner has personally observed or which have been personally reported to the petitioner and in his or her opinion require a compulsory mental examination. If the justice of the peace finds that a compulsory mental examination is necessary, the justice may order the examination.
III. When a peace officer observes a person engaging in behavior which gives the peace officer reasonable suspicion to believe that the person may be suffering from a mental illness and probable cause to believe that unless the person is placed in protective custody the person poses an immediate danger of bodily injury to himself or others, the police officer may place the person in protective custody. Any person taken into protective custody under this paragraph shall be transported directly to an emergency room of a licensed general hospital or to another site designated by the community mental health program serving the area, for the purpose of determining if an involuntary emergency admission shall be ordered in accordance with RSA 135-C:28, I. The period of protective custody shall end when a physician, PA, or APRN makes a determination as to whether involuntary emergency admission shall be ordered or at the end of 6 hours, whichever event occurs first.