(a) When the administrator or attending physician of a psychiatric facility contemplates discharge of an involuntary patient because of expiration of the court order for commitment or because the patient is no longer a proper subject for commitment, as determined by the criteria for involuntary hospitalization in section 334-60.2, the administrator or attending physician shall provide notice of intent to discharge, or if the patient voluntarily agrees to further hospitalization, the administrator shall provide notice of the patient’s admission to voluntary inpatient treatment. The following requirements and procedures shall apply:
Court: means any duly constituted court and includes proceedings, hearings of per diem judges as authorized by law. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 334-1
Discharge: means the formal termination on the records of a psychiatric facility of a patient's period of treatment at the facility. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 334-1
Patient: means a person under observation, care, or treatment at a psychiatric facility. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 334-1
Psychiatric facility: means a public or private hospital or part thereof which provides inpatient or outpatient care, custody, diagnosis, treatment or rehabilitation services for mentally ill persons or for persons habituated to the excessive use of drugs or alcohol or for intoxicated persons. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 334-1
Treatment: means the broad range of emergency, out-patient, intermediate, domiciliary, and inpatient services and care, including diagnostic evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological, and social service care, vocational rehabilitation, career counseling, and other special services which may be extended to handicapped persons. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 334-1
(1) The notice and a certificate of service shall be filed with the family court and served on those persons whom the order of commitment specifies as entitled to receive notice, by mail at the person’s last known address. Notice shall also be sent to the prosecuting attorney of the county from which the person was originally committed, by facsimile or electronically, for the sole purpose of victim notification;(2) Any person specified as entitled to receive notice may waive this right in writing with the psychiatric facility;(3) If no objection is filed within five calendar days of mailing the notice, the administrator or attending physician of the psychiatric facility shall discharge the patient or accept the patient for voluntary inpatient treatment;(4) If any person specified as entitled to receive notice files a written objection, with a certificate of service, to the discharge or to the patient’s admission to voluntary inpatient treatment on the grounds that the patient is a proper subject for commitment, the family court shall conduct a hearing as soon as possible, prior to the termination of the current commitment order, to determine if the patient still meets the criteria for involuntary hospitalization in section 334-60.2. The person filing the objection shall also notify the psychiatric facility by telephone on the date the objection is filed;(5) If the family court finds that the patient does not meet the criteria for involuntary hospitalization in section 334-60.2, the court shall issue an order of discharge from the commitment; and(6) If the family court finds that the patient does meet the criteria for involuntary hospitalization in section 334-60.2, the court shall issue an order denying discharge from the commitment.(b) For civil commitments that do not result directly from legal proceedings under chapters 704 and 706, when the administrator or attending physician of a psychiatric facility contemplates discharge of an involuntary patient, the administrator or attending physician may assess whether an assisted community treatment plan is indicated pursuant to § 334-123 and, if so indicated, may communicate with an aftercare provider as part of discharge planning, as appropriate.
