NY State Senate Bill 2017-S2441

Senate Bill S2441

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Provides a mental hygiene legal service to certain patients or residents of residential healthcare facilities

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Mental Health And Developmental Disabilities Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2018	referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
Jan 13, 2017	referred to mental health and developmental disabilities

2017-S2441 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1362
Current Committee:: Senate Mental Health And Developmental Disabilities
Law Section:: Mental Hygiene Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §47.01, Ment Hyg L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: A10824
2011-2012: S3423, A126
2013-2014: S801, A190
2015-2016: S1907, A1459
2019-2020: S3766, A4482

2017-S2441 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides a mental hygiene legal service to patients or residents of residential healthcare facilities who have been admitted directly from a facility and who have a chronic mental illness and are receiving services related to such illness.

2017-S2441 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2441

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation
to providing a mental hygiene legal service to certain patients or
residents of residential healthcare facilities

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

This bill provides mental hygiene legal services with authority to
provide legal assistance to patients or residents of residential
health care facilities including nursing homes who have been admitted
directly from a psychiatric facility or a psychiatric ward of a
hospital and who have a serious mental illness for which they are
receiving services related to such illness.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

Sections 1 of the bill amends section 47.01 subdivision (a) of the
mental hygiene law to include patients and residents of residential
healthcare facilities including nursing homes who have been directly
admitted from a facility licensed by the Office of Mental Health and
who have a serious mental illness and are receiving services for such
illness.

Section 2 of the bill provides for an immediate effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

The NYS Court of Appeals, the State's highest court, recently ruled
that Mental Hygiene Legal Services (MHLS) lacks jurisdiction to
represent mentally ill individuals who have been admitted to nursing
homes from psychiatric centers and psychiatric hospital wards because
the Office of Mental Health does not license the facilities. The
legislature amended the law in 1993 to significantly expand MHLS's
jurisdiction to include individuals in a range of other in and
out-patient facilities without regard to the type of facility or a
person's lack of legal admission status in order to avoid the need for
MHLS to do battle to establish a jurisdictional foothold.
Unfortunately, by a vote of 4-3, the Court of Appeals decided that
those amendments are not sufficient to afford seriously mentally ill
individuals access of protective MHLS when in a setting not licensed
by OMH.

In the mid 1990's a practice of transferring individuals from
psychiatric centers and psychiatric wards of hospitals to specialized
units in nursing homes called neurobiological units (NED's) where they
continued to receive intensive psychiatric treatment was begun. These
individuals were not there for traditional nursing home care. A series
of award winning articles in the New York Times focused in part on
this practice and claimed that the residents in the NBD were being
deprived their legal protection. The article claimed that the NED's
were like being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric center
without any legal protections. MHLS began looking into the matter and
sought access to the residents and their records in order to provide
advocacy and legal representation. Nursing homes denied them access
and in June 2003, MHLS commenced a court action seeking jurisdiction
to protect the rights of these individuals. Nursing homes have since
shut down NED's, however there continues to be a steady flow of
seriously mentally ill individuals being transferred from OMH licensed
psychiatric centers and hospital wards to nursing homes.  Seriously
mentally ill individuals deserve the same protections that they would
be afforded had they remained in the OMH licensed facilities. They are
not being discharged because they have been cured or stabilized. If
these individuals continue to require intensive, institutional care
and treatment that a nursing home provides, they must continue to be
provided with the protections that MHLS was designed to provide. Many
of these individuals have been in nursing homes for years without
legal representation waiting this court decision. This bill will
clearly put in statute MHLS' authority to provide legal assistance to
these seriously mentally ill individuals who are alleged to be in need
of care and treatment in such restrictive settings.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-16: S.1907/A.1459 - Reported and Committed to Finance
2013-14: S.801/A.190 - Reported to Finance
2011-12: S.3423A/A.126A - Passed Assembly; Reported to Finance
2010: A.10824-B/S.7432-A - Vetoed Memo 6811

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

No new costs.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.

2017-S2441 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2441
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 13, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health and Develop-
   mental Disabilities
 
 AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene  law,  in  relation  to  providing  a
   mental hygiene legal service to certain patients or residents of resi-
   dential healthcare facilities

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 47.01 of the mental hygiene law,
 as amended by chapter 7 of the laws of  2007,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   (a) There shall be a mental hygiene legal service of the state in each
 judicial  department.  The  service  shall  provide  legal assistance to
 patients or residents of a facility as defined in section 1.03  of  this
 chapter,    PATIENTS  OR  RESIDENTS OF RESIDENTIAL HEALTHCARE FACILITIES
 LICENSED AND OPERATING PURSUANT TO ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT  OF  THE  PUBLIC
 HEALTH LAW WHO HAVE BEEN ADMITTED DIRECTLY FROM A FACILITY AS DEFINED IN
 SECTION  1.03  OF  THIS CHAPTER AND WHO HAVE A SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS AS
 DEFINED IN SECTION 1.03 OF  THIS  CHAPTER  AND  ARE  RECEIVING  SERVICES
 RELATED  TO  SUCH  ILLNESS,  or  any  other  place  or facility which is
 required to have an operating certificate pursuant to article sixteen or
 thirty-one of this chapter, and to persons alleged to be in need of care
 and treatment in such facilities or places, and to persons  entitled  to
 such  legal  assistance  as provided by article ten of this chapter. The
 head of such service in each judicial department and such assistants and
 such staff as may be necessary shall be appointed and may be removed  by
 the  presiding justice of the appellate division of the judicial depart-
 ment.  Appointments and transfers to the service shall comply  with  the
 provisions of the civil service law. Standards for qualifications of the
 personnel  in  the service shall be established by the presiding justice
 of the appellate division of  the  judicial  department.  The  presiding
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD00259-01-7

 S. 2441                             2
 
 justice  of  the  appellate  division  of  the judicial department shall
 promulgate such rules or regulations as may be necessary  to  effectuate
 the purposes of this article.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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