1. It is hereby declared to be the public policy of this State to make maximum provision for the health, safety, and welfare of patients who are incapacitated and residents in State and county institutions for persons with mental illness and persons with developmental disabilities, for persons with developmental disabilities who are residents in community-based alternate living arrangements in the State or in private facilities both in and outside the State, and for inmates under age 18 in State and county penal and correctional institutions, by permitting the chief executive officer of the institution or the regional administrator of a Division of Developmental Disabilities community services region to consent to the utilization of appropriate medical, psychiatric, surgical, and dental treatment for the patients, inmates, and residents where prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist as provided for herein.

L.1969, c.181, s.1; amended 1997, c.208, s.1; 2013, c.103, s.77.