Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

28.   Provision for temporary treatment without certification of certain persons

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   (1)   Subject to the provisions of this section a person who is suffering from mental illness and is likely to benefit by temporary treatment whether he or she is or is not capable of expressing himself or herself as willing or unwilling to receive such treatment may on a written application duly made in accordance with the provisions of this section, but without being adjudicated a person of unsound mind under this Act, be received in a mental hospital as a temporary patient for the purpose of treatment.

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   (2)   An application under this section in the form set out in the Schedule to this Act shall be made to the Medical Superintendent and shall, if possible, be made by the husband or wife or by a relative of the person to whom it relates and, if the application is not so made, it shall contain a statement of the reason why it is not so made, of the connection of the applicant with the person to whom it relates, and of the circumstances in which he or she makes the application.

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   (3)   The application shall be accompanied by a recommendation in the form set out in the Schedule to this Act signed by 2 registered medical practitioners.

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   (4)   Each of the medical practitioners by whom a recommendation under this section is to be made shall, before signing the recommendation, examine the person to whom the recommendation relates, either separately or in conjunction with the other, and shall specify in the recommendation the date on which he or she so examined the said person and the grounds on which he or she bases his or her recommendation.

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   (5)   A recommendation shall be of no effect for the purposes of this section if there is a greater interval than 5 clear days between the dates on which the person to whom the recommendation relates was examined by the 2 medical practitioners respectively, and any such recommendation shall cease to have effect on the expiration of 14 days from the date on which the person to whom the recommendation relates was examined by the 2 medical practitioners or if he or she was examined by those practitioners on 2 different dates on the expiration of 14 days from the latter of those dates.

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   (6)   Where a person is received as a temporary patient under this section notice of his or her reception together with a copy of the application on which he or she was received and of the recommendation accompanying the application shall, before the expiration of the second day after the day of which he or she was received, be sent by the Superintendent to the Chief Medical Officer and to the Visiting Committee appointed under section 59. The Chief Medical Officer shall, upon the signed request of any person who considers himself or herself to be unjustly detained under such application or recommendation, furnish to him or her or to his or her authorised representative free of cost, a copy of such application or recommendation.

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   (7)   If a person so received dies or departs from the mental hospital notice of the fact shall before the expiration of the second day after the day of the death or departure, be sent to the Chief Medical Officer and to the Visiting Committee by the Superintendent.

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   (8)   Within one month of the reception of any person received as a temporary patient under this section and thereafter once during each succeeding month he or she shall be visited by at least 2 members of the Visiting Committee, one of whom shall be a registered medical practitioner.

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   (9)   If the persons making the said visits are of the opinion that it is proper that the patient should continue to be detained they shall sign a statement to that effect and shall leave it with the Superintendent but if they are of the opinion that it is not proper that the patient should continue to be detained, they shall, before the expiration of the second day after the day of the said visit, send to the Chief Medical Officer a report stating their said opinion and the grounds on which it is based, together with such other observations as they think fit.

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   (10)   Subject to the provisions of this section a person received as a temporary patient may be detained for a period not exceeding 6 months but shall not be detained as such for any longer period.

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   (11)   Where it is anticipated that a person who is undergoing treatment as a temporary patient under this section will not recover within the period of 6 months but his or her early recovery appears reasonably probable, that period may from time to time be extended for further periods of such length not exceeding 3 months as may be specified in directions given by the Chief Medical Officer upon the application of one of the persons specified in subsection (2); however, such further periods shall in no case exceed 6 months in all.

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   (12)   The Superintendent may at any time order—

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      (a)     that any person received as a temporary patient shall be discharged; or

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      (b)     that steps shall be taken to deal with him or her under this Act as a person of unsound mind.

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   (13)   Without prejudice to the provisions of the last 2 preceding subsections, the provisions of this Act relative to the discharge of persons of unsound mind shall apply to any person received as a temporary patient under this section.