Ohio Code 5122.10 – Emergency hospitalization
(A)(1) Any of the following who has reason to believe that a person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if allowed to remain at liberty pending examination may take the person into custody and may immediately transport the person to a hospital or, notwithstanding section 5119.33 of the Revised Code, to a general hospital not licensed by the department of mental health and addiction services where the person may be held for the period prescribed in this section:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 5122.10
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Certified nurse practitioner: means an advanced practice registered nurse who holds a current, valid license issued under Chapter 4723 of the Revised Code and is designated as a certified nurse practitioner in accordance with section 4723. See Ohio Code 1.64
- Chief clinical officer: means the medical director of a hospital, community mental health services provider, or board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services, or, if there is no medical director, the licensed physician responsible for the treatment provided by a hospital or community mental health services provider. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Clinical nurse specialist: means an advanced practice registered nurse who holds a current, valid license issued under Chapter 4723 of the Revised Code and is designated as a clinical nurse specialist in accordance with section 4723. See Ohio Code 1.64
- Community mental health services provider: means an agency, association, corporation, individual, or program that provides community mental health services that are certified by the director of mental health and addiction services under section 5119. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Court: means the probate division of the court of common pleas. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Health officer: means any public health physician; public health nurse; or other person authorized or designated by a city or general health district or a board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services to perform the duties of a health officer under this chapter. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Hospital: means a hospital or inpatient unit licensed by the department of mental health and addiction services under section 5119. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Licensed clinical psychologist: means a person who holds a current, valid psychologist license issued under section 4732. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Licensed physician: means a person licensed under the laws of this state to practice medicine or a medical officer of the government of the United States while in this state in the performance of the person's official duties. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Mental illness: means a substantial disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that grossly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Patient: means , subject to division (C)(2) of this section, a person who is admitted either voluntarily or involuntarily to a hospital or other place under section 2945. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Person with a mental illness subject to court order: means a person with a mental illness who, because of the person's illness:
(1) Represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self as manifested by evidence of threats of, or attempts at, suicide or serious self-inflicted bodily harm;
(2) Represents a substantial risk of physical harm to others as manifested by evidence of recent homicidal or other violent behavior, evidence of recent threats that place another in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious physical harm, or other evidence of present dangerousness;
(3) Represents a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical impairment or injury to self as manifested by evidence that the person is unable to provide for and is not providing for the person's basic physical needs because of the person's mental illness and that appropriate provision for those needs cannot be made immediately available in the community;
(4) Would benefit from treatment for the person's mental illness and is in need of such treatment as manifested by evidence of behavior that creates a grave and imminent risk to substantial rights of others or the person;
(5)(a) Would benefit from treatment as manifested by evidence of behavior that indicates all of the following:
(i) The person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, based on a clinical determination. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
- Psychiatrist: means a licensed physician who has satisfactorily completed a residency training program in psychiatry, as approved by the residency review committee of the American medical association, the committee on post-graduate education of the American osteopathic association, or the American osteopathic board of neurology and psychiatry, or who on July 1, 1989, has been recognized as a psychiatrist by the Ohio state medical association or the Ohio osteopathic association on the basis of formal training and five or more years of medical practice limited to psychiatry. See Ohio Code 5122.01
- Respondent: means the person whose detention, commitment, hospitalization, continued hospitalization or commitment, or discharge is being sought in any proceeding under this chapter. See Ohio Code 5122.01
(a) A psychiatrist;
(b) A licensed physician;
(c) A licensed clinical psychologist;
(d) A clinical nurse specialist who is certified as a psychiatric-mental health CNS by the American nurses credentialing center;
(e) A certified nurse practitioner who is certified as a psychiatric-mental health NP by the American nurses credentialing center;
(f) A health officer;
(g) A parole officer;
(h) A police officer;
(i) A sheriff.
(2) If the chief of the adult parole authority or a parole or probation officer with the approval of the chief of the authority has reason to believe that a parolee, an offender under a community control sanction or post-release control sanction, or an offender under transitional control is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if allowed to remain at liberty pending examination, the chief or officer may take the parolee or offender into custody and may immediately transport the parolee or offender to a hospital or, notwithstanding section 5119.33 of the Revised Code, to a general hospital not licensed by the department of mental health and addiction services where the parolee or offender may be held for the period prescribed in this section.
(B) A written statement shall be given to the hospital by the individual authorized under division (A)(1) or (2) of this section to transport the person. The statement shall specify the circumstances under which such person was taken into custody and the reasons for the belief that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order and represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self or others if allowed to remain at liberty pending examination. This statement shall be made available to the respondent or the respondent’s attorney upon request of either.
(C) Every reasonable and appropriate effort shall be made to take persons into custody in the least conspicuous manner possible. A person taking the respondent into custody pursuant to this section shall explain to the respondent: the name and professional designation and affiliation of the person taking the respondent into custody; that the custody-taking is not a criminal arrest; and that the person is being taken for examination by mental health professionals at a specified mental health facility identified by name.
(D) If a person taken into custody under this section is transported to a general hospital, the general hospital may admit the person, or provide care and treatment for the person, or both, notwithstanding section 5119.33 of the Revised Code, but by the end of twenty-four hours after arrival at the general hospital, the person shall be transferred to a hospital as defined in section 5122.01 of the Revised Code.
(E) A person transported or transferred to a hospital or community mental health services provider under this section shall be examined by the staff of the hospital or services provider within twenty-four hours after arrival at the hospital or services provider. If to conduct the examination requires that the person remain overnight, the hospital or services provider shall admit the person in an unclassified status until making a disposition under this section. After the examination, if the chief clinical officer of the hospital or services provider believes that the person is not a person with a mental illness subject to court order, the chief clinical officer shall release or discharge the person immediately unless a court has issued a temporary order of detention applicable to the person under section 5122.11 of the Revised Code. After the examination, if the chief clinical officer believes that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order, the chief clinical officer may detain the person for not more than three court days following the day of the examination and during such period admit the person as a voluntary patient under section 5122.02 of the Revised Code or file an affidavit under section 5122.11 of the Revised Code. If neither action is taken and a court has not otherwise issued a temporary order of detention applicable to the person under section 5122.11 of the Revised Code, the chief clinical officer shall discharge the person at the end of the three-day period unless the person has been sentenced to the department of rehabilitation and correction and has not been released from the person’s sentence, in which case the person shall be returned to that department.
Last updated February 13, 2023 at 11:38 AM