AB 538

Generally, this bill prohibits the transfer of an individual from a hospital's

emergency department for emergency detention until a hospital employee or medical

staff member determines the transfer is medically appropriate. The bill also

specifies the actions that satisfy the duty to warn of the dangerousness of a person,

and provides immunity from civil and criminal liability for actions taken in good

faith to warn of dangerousness.

Transportation to detention facility

Under current law, a law enforcement officer or certain other persons may take

an individual into custody for purposes of emergency detention if the officer or other

person has cause to believe that the individual is mentally ill, drug dependent, or

developmentally disabled, and that the individual shows any of the following: 1) a

substantial probability of physical harm to himself or herself; 2) a substantial

probability of physical harm to other persons; 3) a substantial probability of physical

impairment or injury to himself or herself due to impaired judgment; or 4) due to

mental illness, the inability to satisfy certain basic needs. The individual may not

be detained by the officer or other person and the facility for more than a total of 72

hours after the individual is taken into custody for the purposes of emergency

detention. The county department of community programs must approve the need

for detention and may not do so unless a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental

health professional has performed a crisis assessment on the individual and agrees

with the need for detention and the county department believes the individual will

not voluntarily consent to evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Under the bill, if an

individual is in a hospital's emergency department, the law enforcement officer or

other person may not transport the individual for detention until a hospital employee

or medical staff member who is treating the individual determines that the transfer

of the individual to the detention facility is medically appropriate.

Duty to warn

The bill specifies that a health care provider fulfills any duty to warn by taking

any of the following actions: contacting law enforcement or the relevant county

department and disclosing knowledge of potential evidence of the individual's

substantial probability of harm, approving the emergency detention of the

individual if the health care provider is in the position to do so, and taking any other

action that a reasonable health care provider would consider as fulfilling the duty

to warn a third party of substantial probability of harm. The bill explicitly allows any

health care provider and any law enforcement officer to disclose information that an

individual poses a substantial probability of serious bodily harm to another person

in a good faith effort to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health

or safety of a person or the public. Under the bill, any person who discloses

information evidencing substantial probability of serious bodily harm or a health

care provider who takes one of the actions that fulfill a duty to warn is not civilly or