The medical superintendent shall not refuse to discharge any judicially committed patient as improved, on the ground that the guardian, friends, or relatives of the patient are not financially able and willing to care properly for the patient after his discharge. Any patient whose condition has improved so as to render him eligible for discharge under Section 7359 and whose guardian, friends, or relatives are not financially able and willing to care properly for him after his discharge shall be returned to the county from which he was committed, at the expense of the county, and shall be cared for by the county as are other indigent persons.

(Amended by Stats. 1968, Ch. 1374.)