944
PUBLIC LAW 88.597-SEPT. 15, 1964
[78 STAT.
Public Law 88-597 September 15, 1964
^^' ^^^^
AN
ACT
To protect the constitutional rights of certain individuals who are mentally ill, to provide for their care, treatment, and hospitalization, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the c^umMaHos itai- ^^^'^^^ States of America in Congress assembled, i z a t i o n of the Mentally 111 Act.
SHORT TITLE
1. This Act may be cited as the "District of Columbia Hospitalization of the Mentally 111 Act". SECTION
DEFINITIONS
SEC. 2. As used in this Act— (1) the term "mental illness" means any psychosis or other disease which substantially impairs the mental health of an individual; (2) the term "mentally ill person" means any person who has a mental illness, but shall not include a person committed to a private or public hospital in the District of Columbia by order of the court in a criminal proceeding; (3) The term "physician" means an individual licensed under the laws of the District of Columbia to practice medicine, or an individual who practices medicine in the employment of the Government of the United States or of the District of Columbia; (4) the term "private hospital" means any nongovernmental hospital or institution, or part thereof, in the District of Columbia, equipped and qualified to provide inpatient care and treatment for any individual suflPering from a physical or mental illness; (5) the term "public hospital" means any hospital or institution, or part thereof, in the District of (jolumbia, owned and operated by the Government of the United States or of the District of Columbia, equipped and qualified to provide inpatient care and treatment for any individual suffering from a physical or mental illness; (6) the term "administrator" means an individual in charge of a public or private hospital or his delegate; and (7) the term "chief of service" means the physician charged with overall responsibility for the professional program of care and treatment in the particular administrative unit of the hospital to which the patient has been admitted or such other member of the medical staff as shall be designated by the chief of service. COMMISSION ON M E N T A L H E A L T H
members*'"'"* °^ ^^^' ^' '^^^ United States District Court for the District of Colummm ers. e ^.^^ (hereinafter referred to as the "court") is authorized to appoint a Commission on Mental Health, composed of nine members. One member shall be a member of the bar of such court, who has engaged in active practice of law in the District of Columbia for a period of at least five years prior to his appointment. He shall be the Chairman of the Commission and act as the administrative head of the Commission and its staff. He shall preside at all hearings and direct all of the proceedings before the Commission. He shall devote his entire time to the work of the Commission. Eight members of the Commission shall be physicians who have been practicing medicine in the District of Columbia and who have had not less than five years'
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