2020 Georgia Code
Title 37 - Mental Health
Chapter 3 - Examination, Treatment, etc., for Mental Illness
Article 3 - Examination, Hospitalization, and Treatment of Involuntary Patients
Part 1 - Emergency Receiving Facilities for Examination of Persons Apprehended Pursuant to Physician's Certificate, Court Order, Etc
§ 37-3-42. Emergency Admission of Persons Arrested for Penal Offenses; Report by Officer; Entry of Report Into Clinical Record

1. A peace officer may take any person to a physician within the county or an adjoining county for emergency examination by the physician, as provided in Code Section 37-3-41, or directly to an emergency receiving facility if (1) the person is committing a penal offense, and (2) the peace officer has probable cause for believing that the person is a mentally ill person requiring involuntary treatment. The peace officer need not formally tender charges against the individual prior to taking the individual to a physician or an emergency receiving facility under this Code section. The peace officer shall execute a written report detailing the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody; and this report shall be made a part of the patient's clinical record.
2. Any psychologist may perform any act specified by this Code section to be performed by a physician. Any reference in any part of this chapter to a physician acting under this Code section shall be deemed to refer equally to a psychologist acting under this Code section. For purposes of this subsection, the term "psychologist" means any person authorized under the laws of this state to practice as a licensed psychologist.

(Code 1933, § 88-504.3, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 996, § 4; Ga. L. 1987, p. 3, § 37.)

- Arrest of persons, T. 17, C. 4.

Licensing of applied psychologists, T. 43, C. 39.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

No authority to take defendant into custody.

- Officers were not acting within the scope of their lawful authority when they took the defendant into custody because they did not have a physician's certificate or court order as required by O.C.G.A. § 37-3-41, and it was undisputed that the defendant had not committed, nor was the defendant suspected of committing, a penal offense as mandated by O.C.G.A. § 37-3-42(a). Boatright v. State, 327 Ga. App. 785, 761 S.E.2d 176 (2014).

Cited in Benham v. Edwards, 501 F. Supp. 1050 (N.D. Ga. 1980).

Medical admissions county was a county in which the procedure was governed by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U72-29.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Validity, construction, and application of overt act requirement of state statutes providing for commitment of sexually dangerous persons, 56 A.L.R. 6th 647.