Sec. 17a-503. (Formerly Sec. 17-183a). Detention by police officer prior to commitment. Issuance of emergency certificates by psychologist and certain clinical social workers and advanced practice reg
Sec. 17a-503. (Formerly Sec. 17-183a). Detention by police officer prior to
commitment. Issuance of emergency certificates by psychologist and certain clinical social workers and advanced practice registered nurses. (a) Any police officer
who has reasonable cause to believe that a person has psychiatric disabilities and is
dangerous to himself or herself or others or gravely disabled, and in need of immediate
care and treatment, may take such person into custody and take or cause such person
to be taken to a general hospital for emergency examination under this section. The
officer shall execute a written request for emergency examination detailing the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody, and such request shall be left
with the facility. The person shall be examined within twenty-four hours and shall not
be held for more than seventy-two hours unless committed under section 17a-502.
(b) Upon application by any person to the court of probate having jurisdiction in
accordance with section 17a-497, alleging that any respondent has psychiatric disabilities and is dangerous to himself or herself or others or gravely disabled, and in need of
immediate care and treatment in a hospital for psychiatric disabilities, such court may
issue a warrant for the apprehension and bringing before it of such respondent and
examine such respondent. If the court determines that there is probable cause to believe
that such person has psychiatric disabilities and is dangerous to himself or herself or
others or gravely disabled, the court shall order that such respondent be taken to a general
hospital for examination. The person shall be examined within twenty-four hours and
shall not be held for more than seventy-two hours unless committed under section
17a-502.
(c) Any psychologist licensed under chapter 383 who has reasonable cause to believe that a person has psychiatric disabilities and is dangerous to himself or herself or
others or gravely disabled, and in need of immediate care and treatment, may issue an
emergency certificate in writing that authorizes and directs that such person be taken to
a general hospital for purposes of a medical examination. The person shall be examined
within twenty-four hours and shall not be held for more than seventy-two hours unless
committed under section 17a-502.
(d) Any clinical social worker licensed under chapter 383b or advanced practice
registered nurse licensed under chapter 378 who (1) has received a minimum of eight
hours of specialized training in the conduct of direct evaluations as a member of any
mobile crisis team, jail diversion program, crisis intervention team, advanced supervision and intervention support team, or assertive case management program operated by
or under contract with the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and
(2) based upon the direct evaluation of a person, has reasonable cause to believe that
such person has psychiatric disabilities and is dangerous to himself or herself or others or
gravely disabled, and in need of immediate care and treatment, may issue an emergency
certificate in writing that authorizes and directs that such person be taken to a general
hospital for purposes of a medical examination. The person shall be examined within
twenty-four hours and shall not be held for more than seventy-two hours unless committed under section 17a-502. The Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services
shall collect and maintain statistical and demographic information pertaining to emergency certificates issued under this subsection.
(P.A. 77-595, S. 7; P.A. 93-227; P.A. 95-257, S. 48, 58; P.A. 00-147; P.A. 08-21, S. 1.)
History: Sec. 17-183a transferred to Sec. 17a-503 in 1991; P.A. 93-227 amended Subsec. (b) by requiring examination
within 24 hours rather than 48 hours and added Subsec. (c) re issuance of emergency certificate by psychologist; P.A. 95-257 replaced variants of "mental illness" and "mentally ill" with variants of "psychiatric disabilities", effective July 1,
1995; P.A. 00-147 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a) and (b) and added new Subsec. (d) re issuance of emergency
certificates by certain clinical social workers and advanced practice registered nurses; P.A. 08-21 amended Subsec. (d)(1)
by removing "under this subsection" and adding "crisis intervention team, advanced supervision and intervention support
team" re permissible forms of specialized training in conducting direct evaluations, effective April 29, 2008.
Annotation to former section 17-183a:
Subsec. (a):
Cited. 23 CA 447.
Annotation to present section:
Cited. 224 C. 29.
Subsec. (a):
Police officer's actions pursuant to section are sufficiently connected to a commitment proceeding to warrant absolute
immunity. Because a statement in police officer's incident report fell within scope of a judicial proceeding, defendant may
be protected by absolute or qualified immunity for that statement, but not for officer's statement to persons at Department
of Correction. It is appropriate to afford only a qualified immunity to persons acting pursuant to section if their conduct
falls within the proscriptions against malicious conduct under Sec. 17a-504. 282 C. 821.