AB 2154: Mental health: involuntary treatment.

Under existing law, a person who, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to self or others or is gravely disabled, may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. Existing law provides that each person who is involuntarily detained for evaluation or treatment, as specified, or admitted as a voluntary patient for psychiatric evaluation or treatment to a health facility, as specified, and each person who is committed to a state hospital, has certain rights, including the right to receive a copy of the State Department of Health Care Services prepared patients rights handbook.

This bill would require a facility to which a person is brought for involuntary detention to offer and provide a copy of the State Department of Health Care Services prepared patients rights handbook to a family member of the detained person, as specified. The bill would require a facility where a person is involuntarily detained for assessment to offer and provide the person with a copy of the handbook if the handbook has been provided to a family member. The bill would define family member for these purposes to include, among others, the spouse or domestic partner of the person and the parent or legal guardian of the person.