Section 253B.22 Review Boards

MINNESOTA STATUTES AND CODES

253B.22 REVIEW BOARDS.

Subdivision 1.Establishment.

The commissioner shall establish a review board of three or more persons for each regional center to review the admission and retention of its patients receiving services under this chapter. One member shall be qualified in the diagnosis of mental illness, developmental disability, or chemical dependency, and one member shall be an attorney. The commissioner may, upon written request from the appropriate federal authority, establish a review panel for any federal treatment facility within the state to review the admission and retention of patients hospitalized under this chapter. For any review board established for a federal treatment facility, one of the persons appointed by the commissioner shall be the commissioner of veterans affairs or the commissioner's designee.

Subd. 2.Right to appear.

Each treatment facility shall be visited by the review board at least once every six months. Upon request each patient in the treatment facility shall have the right to appear before the review board during the visit.

Subd. 3.Notice.

The head of the treatment facility shall notify each patient at the time of admission by a simple written statement of the patient's right to appear before the review board and the next date when the board will visit the treatment facility. A request to appear before the board need not be in writing. Any employee of the treatment facility receiving a patient's request to appear before the board shall notify the head of the treatment facility of the request.

Subd. 4.Review.

The board shall review the admission and retention of patients at its respective treatment facility. The board may examine the records of all patients admitted and may examine personally at its own instigation all patients who from the records or otherwise appear to justify reasonable doubt as to continued need of confinement in a treatment facility. The review board shall report its findings to the commissioner and to the head of the treatment facility. The board may also receive reports from patients, interested persons, and treatment facility employees, and investigate conditions affecting the care of patients.