Louisiana Children’s Code 1427 – Authority to transport and detain
Terms Used In Louisiana Children's Code 1427
- Department: means the Louisiana Department of Health. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
- Diagnosis: means the art and science of determining the presence of disease in an individual and distinguishing one disease from another. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Patient: means any person detained and taken care of as a person with mental illness or person suffering from substance abuse. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
- Treatment: means an active effort to accomplish an improvement in the mental condition or behavior of a patient or to prevent deterioration in his condition or behavior. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
- Treatment facility: means any public or private hospital, retreat, institution, mental health center, or facility licensed by the state of Louisiana in which any mentally ill minor or minor suffering from substance abuse is received or detained as a patient except a facility under the control or supervision of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections unless otherwise provided in Title VIII of this Code. See Louisiana Children's Code 1404
A. An emergency certificate shall constitute legal authority to transport a patient to a treatment facility and shall permit the director of such treatment facility to detain the minor patient for diagnosis and treatment for a period not to exceed fifteen days, and to return him to the facility if he is absent with or without permission during authorized periods of detention.
B. If necessary, peace officers shall apprehend and transport, or ambulance services, under appropriate circumstances, may locate and transport a minor patient on whom an emergency certificate has been completed to a treatment facility at the request of either the director of the facility, the certifying physician, the minor’s next of kin or tutor, or the agency legally responsible for his welfare.
C.(1) In addition to other persons authorized by this Article to transport to a treatment facility a child in whose name an emergency certificate has been issued, any of the following persons may also accompany the child during such transportation:
(a) A parent, including a foster parent, subject to the conditions of Subparagraph (2) of this Paragraph.
(b) A legal guardian.
(c) A Department of Children and Family Services case worker.
(2) A biological parent of a child in foster care shall accompany the child only if approved by the Department of Children and Family Services.
Acts 1991, No. 235, §14, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 2016, No. 642, §1.