SB 271 seeks to amend Chapter 3 of Title 37 of the O.C.G.A. relating to examination and treatment for mental illness.

            Revisions to Code Section 37-3-44 include written notice of habeas corpus or a protective order to the patient both immediately upon arrival and as soon thereafter as reasonably possible given a person’s condition or mental state at the time of arrival.

            Code Section 37-3-83 is revised to include a new subsection (e) which explains that if within 40 days of an order for involuntary treatment for an individual for whom discharge has been planned, the chief medical officer determines discharge would now be unsafe, the officer may execute a certificate to be filed with a petition for continued involuntary treatment. Such officer shall serve the petition along with copes of the updated individualized service plan on the Office of State Administrative Hearings and shall also serve such documents on the person who has mental illness as well as the person’s representatives. Subsection (f) revises the days within notice from 10 to 5 within which the committee shall meet to consider the matter of the officer’s intention to seek an order for continued involuntary treatment.