Ohio Code 5139.54 – Medical release or discharge
(A) Notwithstanding any other provision for determining when a child shall be released or discharged from the legal custody of the department of youth services, including jurisdictional provisions in section 2152.22 of the Revised Code, the release authority, for medical reasons, may release a child upon supervised release or discharge the child from the custody of the department when any of the following applies:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 5139.54
- Child: includes child by adoption. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Discharge: means that the department of youth services' legal custody of a child is terminated. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Release: means the termination of a child's stay in an institution and the subsequent period during which the child returns to the community under the terms and conditions of supervised release. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Release authority: means the release authority of the department of youth services that is established by section 5139. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Secure facility: means any facility that is designed and operated to ensure that all of its entrances and exits are under the exclusive control of its staff and to ensure that, because of that exclusive control, no child who has been institutionalized in the facility may leave the facility without permission or supervision. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Supervised release: means the event of the release of a child under this chapter from an institution and the period after that release during which the child is supervised and assisted by an employee of the department of youth services under specific terms and conditions for reintegration of the child into the community. See Ohio Code 5139.01
(1) The child is terminally ill or otherwise in imminent danger of death.
(2) The child is incapacitated due to injury, disease, illness, or other medical condition and is no longer a threat to public safety.
(3) The child appears to be a person with a mental illness subject to court order, as defined in section 5122.01 of the Revised Code, or a person with an intellectual disability subject to institutionalization by court order, as defined in section 5123.01 of the Revised Code.
(B) When considering whether to release or discharge a child under this section for medical reasons, the release authority may request additional medical information about the child or may ask the department to conduct additional medical examinations.
(C) The release authority shall determine the appropriate level of supervised release for a child released under this section. The terms and conditions of the release may require periodic medical reevaluations as appropriate. Upon granting a release or discharge under this section, the release authority shall give notice of the release and its terms and conditions or of the discharge to the court that committed the child to the custody of the department.
(D) The release authority shall submit annually to the director of youth services a report that includes all of the following information for the previous calendar year:
(1) The number of children the release authority considered for medical release or discharge;
(2) The nature of the injury, disease, illness, or other medical condition of each child considered for medical release or discharge;
(3) The decision made by the release authority for each child, including the reasons for denying medical release or discharge or for granting it;
(4) The number of children on medical release who were returned to a secure facility or whose supervised release was revoked.
Last updated March 10, 2023 at 1:04 PM