IOWA STATUTES AND CODES
229.23 - RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF HOSPITALIZED PERSONS.
229.23 RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF HOSPITALIZED
PERSONS.
Every person who is hospitalized or detained under this chapter
shall have the right to:
1. Prompt evaluation, necessary psychiatric services, and
additional care and treatment as indicated by the patient's
condition. A comprehensive, individualized treatment plan shall be
timely developed following issuance of the court order requiring
involuntary hospitalization. The plan shall be consistent with
current standards appropriate to the facility to which the person has
been committed and with currently accepted standards for psychiatric
treatment of the patient's condition, including chemotherapy,
psychotherapy, counseling and other modalities as may be appropriate.
2. The right to refuse treatment by shock therapy or
chemotherapy, unless the use of these treatment modalities is
specifically consented to by the patient's next of kin or guardian.
The patient's right to refuse treatment by chemotherapy shall not
apply during any period of custody authorized by section 229.4,
subsection 3, section 229.11 or section 229.22, but this exception
shall extend only to chemotherapy treatment which is, in the chief
medical officer's judgment, necessary to preserve the patient'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 patient's right to refuse treatment by chemotherapy
shall also not apply during any period of custody authorized by the
court pursuant to section 229.13 or 229.14. In any other situation
in which, in the chief medical officer's judgment, chemotherapy is
appropriate for the patient but the patient refuses to consent
thereto and there is no next of kin or guardian to give consent, the
chief medical officer may request an order authorizing treatment of
the patient by chemotherapy from the district court which ordered the
patient's hospitalization.
3. In addition to protection of the person's constitutional
rights, enjoyment of other legal, medical, religious, social,
political, personal and working rights and privileges which the
person would enjoy if the person were not so hospitalized or
detained, so far as is possible consistent with effective treatment
of that person and of the other patients of the hospital. If the
patient's rights are restricted, the physician's direction to that
effect shall be noted on the patient's record. The department of
human services shall, in accordance with chapter 17A establish rules
setting forth the specific rights and privileges to which persons so
hospitalized or detained are entitled under this section, and the
exceptions provided by section 17A.2, subsection 11, paragraphs
"a" and "k", shall not be applicable to the rules so
established. The patient or the patient's next of kin or friend shall
be advised of these rules and be provided a written copy upon the
patient's admission to or arrival at the hospital. Section History: Early Form
[C77, 79, 81, § 229.23] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 96, § 157, 159; 89 Acts, ch 275, §6
Referred to in § 229.14A