(a)  Any person alleged to be developmentally disabled, warranting observation and possible residential care and treatment in a facility, public or private, as herein defined, who is not held to answer presently to a criminal charge may be admitted to and received and retained as a resident in a facility by complying with any one of the following admission procedures applicable to the case:

(1)  Voluntary admission; or

(2)  Admission on a certificate of one physician and a team evaluation certificate.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-22-6

  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Client: means any developmentally disabled adult who is in potential need of, or is receiving, services aimed at alleviating his or her condition of functional dependence. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-22-3
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Director: means the director of the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals or his or her designees. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-22-3
  • Facility: means any public or private facility, inpatient rehabilitation center, hospital, institution, or other domiciliary facility, the office of developmental disabilities or any part thereof, equipped to habilitate, on a residential basis, persons who are developmentally disabled and in need of residential care. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-22-3
  • 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.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Team: means an interdisciplinary team which includes such professional personnel designated by the director and which shall consist of no less than three (3) persons selected by order of the director, no less than one of whom shall be a licensed physician, no less than one of whom shall be a member of the social work profession, and no less than one of whom shall be a qualified intellectual disability professional (QIDP). See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-22-3
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8

(b)  The director shall prescribe and furnish forms for use in the procedures for admission under this section, and admission shall be had only upon such forms.

(c)  A developmentally disabled person, as herein described in this chapter, shall be admitted to a facility as herein defined, designated by the director, or pursuant to an administrative order authorized by law, or pursuant to an authorization, or order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

(d)  No member of a team, or any physician signing a certificate for emergency admission, shall be related by blood or marriage to the person applying for the admission of a person alleged to be developmentally disabled or to the person alleged to be developmentally disabled; nor shall he or she be a guardian or conservator of the person; nor shall he or she have any interest, contractually, testamentary, or otherwise (other than reasonable and proper charges for professional services rendered), in or against the estate or assets of the person alleged to be developmentally disabled; nor shall he or she be a manager, trustee, proprietor, officer, stockholder, or have any pecuniary interest, directly, or indirectly, or except as otherwise provided, be a director or resident physician, in any facility to which it is proposed to admit the person.

(e)  A certificate, as required by this section, must show that the person is developmentally disabled as herein defined, and unable to function independently, and if required to be made by one examining physician, that the physician made an examination of the person alleged to be developmentally disabled within ten (10) days next before and inclusive of the date of admission unless otherwise herein provided. The date of the certificate shall be the date of the commencement of the examination, and in the event the examination or examinations are conducted separately or over a period of days, then the ten (10) day period above referred to (unless otherwise expressly provided) shall be measured from the date of the commencement of the first examination. The certificate shall contain the reasons upon which the judgment of the physician is based and shall show that the condition of the person examined is such as to require development, education, rehabilitation, and care in a facility as herein defined, and shall contain such other information as the director by rule or regulation shall require.

(f)(1)  A developmentally disabled person shall enjoy all the civil and constitutional rights conferred on citizens or residents of the state (as the case may be) by the constitution and laws of the United States and of this state, except as expressly otherwise provided by law.

(2)  No person of eighteen (18) years of age or older shall be admitted to, detained in, or returned to a state residential facility against his or her will unless he or she has been adjudicated incompetent, has been admitted on any ten (10) day one physician certificate basis, or as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter.

(3)  As soon as reasonably practicable upon the admission as provided by this section of any patient to any facility, the superintendent or official in charge thereof shall inform the client of his or her rights to have a judicial hearing and review, to be represented by counsel and to seek independent professional opinion; and further, pursuant to rules established by the director, each client upon admission shall be given the opportunity to communicate by telephone, or if not possible, by the next expeditious method, with any person.

(g)  As to all persons admitted to any facility pursuant to this section, the director may make a request of the superintendent or official in charge of any facility to examine at any time a record of admission which shall contain such information as the director by rule or regulation may require. Similarly, the director may examine records of transfers, discharges, conditional releases, and revocation of conditional releases, as well as other dispositions of cases of clients admitted hereunder.

(h)  No requirement shall be made, by rule, regulation, or otherwise, as a condition to admission and retention, that any person applying for admission shall have the legal capacity to contract.

History of Section.
P.L. 1970, ch. 324, § 1; P.L. 1978, ch. 195, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 23-43.1-6; P.L. 1979, ch. 39, § 1; P.L. 1995, ch. 122, § 2; P.L. 2020, ch. 79, art. 1, § 39.