25-03.1-25. Detention or hospitalization - Emergency procedure.
673 words·~3 min read·
/nd/title-25/chapter-25-03-1-commitment-procedures/25-03-1-25·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
1. When a peace officer, physician either in person or directing an emergency medical
services professional, psychiatrist, physician assistant, psychologist, advanced
practice registered nurse, or mental health professional has reasonable cause to
believe that an individual is a person requiring treatment and there exists a serious risk
of harm to that individual, others, or property of an immediate nature that
considerations of safety do not allow preliminary intervention by a magistrate, the
peace officer, physician either in person or directing an emergency medical services
professional, psychiatrist, physician assistant, psychologist, advanced practice
registered nurse, or mental health professional, using the screening process set forth
in section 25-03.1-04, may cause the individual to be taken into custody and detained
at a treatment facility as provided in subsection 3, and subject to section 25-03.1-26,
except that if emergency conditions exist that prevent the immediate conveyance of
the individual to a public treatment facility, a private facility that has adequate
resources and capacity to hold that individual may hold the individual in anticipation of
conveyance to a public treatment facility for up to twenty-three hours:
a. Without conducting an immediate examination required under section 25-03.1-26;
and
b. Without following notice and hearing requirements for a transfer to another
treatment facility required under subsection 3 of section 25-03.1-34. 2. If a petitioner seeking the involuntary treatment of a respondent requests that the
respondent be taken into immediate custody and the magistrate, upon reviewing the
petition and accompanying documentation, finds probable cause to believe that the
respondent is a person requiring treatment and there exists a serious risk of harm to
the respondent, others, or property if allowed to remain at liberty, the magistrate may
enter a written order directing that the respondent be taken into immediate custody
and be detained as provided in subsection 3 until the preliminary or treatment hearing,
which must be held no more than seven days after the date of the order. 3. Detention under this section may be:
a. In a treatment facility where the director or superintendent must be informed of
the reasons why immediate custody has been ordered. The facility may provide
treatment that is necessary to preserve the respondent's life or to appropriately
control behavior by the respondent which is likely to result in physical injury to self
or to others if allowed to continue, but may not otherwise provide treatment to the
respondent without the respondent's consent; or
b. In a public or private facility in the community which is suitably equipped and
staffed for the purpose. Detention in a jail or other correctional facility may not be
ordered except in cases of actual emergency when no other secure facility is
accessible, and then only for a period of not more than twenty-four hours and
under close supervision. 4. Immediately upon being taken into custody, the individual must be advised of the
purpose of custody, of the intended uses and possible effects of any evaluation that
the individual undergoes, and of the individual's rights to counsel and to a preliminary
or treatment hearing. 5. Upon arrival at a facility the peace officer, physician, physician assistant, psychiatrist,
psychologist, advanced practice registered nurse, or mental health professional who
conveyed the individual or who caused the individual to be conveyed shall complete
an application for evaluation and shall deliver a detailed written report from the peace
officer, physician, physician assistant, psychiatrist, psychologist, advanced practice
registered nurse, or the mental health professional who caused the individual to be
conveyed. The written report must state the circumstances under which the individual
was taken into custody. The report must allege in detail the overt act that constituted
the basis for the beliefs that the individual is a person requiring treatment and that,
because of that individual's condition, there exists a serious risk of harm to that
individual, others, or property if the individual is not immediately detained. 6. A peace officer maintains the peace officer's power of arrest, detention, and transport,
throughout the entire state during a transport or detention in accordance with this
section.