229.22 - HOSPITALIZATION -- EMERGENCY PROCEDURE. - Iowa Statutes

229.22 HOSPITALIZATION -- EMERGENCY PROCEDURE. 1. The procedure prescribed by this section shall not be used unless it appears that a person should be immediately detained due to serious mental impairment, but that person cannot be immediately detained by the procedure prescribed in sections 229.6 and 229.11 because there is no means of immediate access to the district court. 2. a. In the circumstances described in subsection 1, any peace officer who has reasonable grounds to believe that a person is mentally ill, and because of that illness is likely to physically injure the person's self or others if not immediately detained, may without a warrant take or cause that person to be taken to the nearest available facility as defined in section 229.11, subsection 1, paragraphs "b" and "c". A person believed mentally ill, and likely to injure the person's self or others if not immediately detained, may be delivered to a hospital by someone other than a peace officer. Upon delivery of the person believed mentally ill to the hospital, the examining physician may order treatment of that person, including chemotherapy, but only to the extent necessary to preserve the person's life or to appropriately control behavior by the person which is likely to result in physical injury to that person or others if allowed to continue. The peace officer who took the person into custody, or other party who brought the person to the hospital, shall describe the circumstances of the matter to the examining physician. If the person is a peace officer, the peace officer may do so either in person or by written report. If the examining physician finds that there is reason to believe that the person is seriously mentally impaired, and because of that impairment is likely to physically injure the person's self or others if not immediately detained, the examining physician shall at once communicate with the nearest available magistrate as defined in section 801.4, subsection 10. The magistrate shall, based upon the circumstances described by the examining physician, give the examining physician oral instructions either directing that the person be released forthwith or authorizing the person's detention in an appropriate facility. The magistrate may also give oral instructions and order that the detained person be transported to an appropriate facility. b. If the magistrate orders that the person be detained, the magistrate shall, by the close of business on the next working day, file a written order with the clerk in the county where it is anticipated that an application may be filed under section 229.6. The order may be filed by facsimile if necessary. The order shall state the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody or otherwise brought to a facility, and the grounds supporting the finding of probable cause to believe that the person is seriously mentally impaired and likely to injure the person's self or others if not immediately detained. The order shall confirm the oral order authorizing the person's detention including any order given to transport the person to an appropriate facility. The clerk shall provide a copy of that order to the chief medical officer of the facility to which the person was originally taken, to any subsequent facility to which the person was transported, and to any law enforcement department or ambulance service that transported the person pursuant to the magistrate's order. 3. The chief medical officer of the hospital shall examine and may detain and care for the person taken into custody under the magistrate's order for a period not to exceed forty-eight hours from the time such order is dated, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, unless the order is sooner dismissed by a magistrate. The hospital may provide treatment which is necessary to preserve the person's life, or to appropriately control behavior by the person which is likely to result in physical injury to the person's self or others if allowed to continue, but may not otherwise provide treatment to the person without the person's consent. The person shall be discharged from the hospital and released from custody not later than the expiration of that period, unless an application for the person's involuntary hospitalization is sooner filed with the clerk pursuant to section 229.6. The detention of any person by the procedure and not in excess of the period of time prescribed by this section shall not render the peace officer, physician or hospital so detaining that person liable in a criminal or civil action for false arrest or false imprisonment if the peace officer, physician or hospital had reasonable grounds to believe the person so detained was mentally ill and likely to physically injure the person's self or others if not immediately detained. 4. The cost of hospitalization at a public hospital of a person detained temporarily by the procedure prescribed in this section shall be paid in the same way as if the person had been admitted to the hospital by the procedure prescribed in sections 229.6 to 229.13.          Section History: Early Form [C77, 79, 81, § 229.22]          Section History: Recent Form 95 Acts, ch 24, §2; 2003 Acts, ch 68, §3, 4; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §227 Referred to in § 229.21, 229.23, 229.24, 602.6405