2005 Idaho Code - 66-346 — RIGHT TO COMMUNICATION AND VISITATION -- EXERCISE OF CIVIL RIGHTS

                                  TITLE  66
                        STATE CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
                                  CHAPTER 3
                       HOSPITALIZATION OF MENTALLY ILL
    66-346.  RIGHT TO COMMUNICATION AND VISITATION -- EXERCISE OF CIVIL
RIGHTS. (a) Every patient shall have the following rights:
    (1)  To communicate by sealed mail or otherwise, with persons, inside or
    outside the facility and to have access to reasonable amounts of letter
    writing material and postage;
    (2)  To receive visitors at all reasonable times;
    (3)  To wear his own clothes; to keep and use his own personal possessions
    including toilet articles; to keep and be allowed to spend a reasonable
    sum of his own money for canteen expenses and small purchases; to have
    access to individual storage space for his private use;
    (4)  To refuse specific modes of treatment;
    (5)  To be visited by his attorney or any employee of his attorney's firm,
    or a representative of the state protection and advocacy system at any
    time;
    (6)  To exercise all civil rights, including the right to dispose of
    property except property described in subsection (3) above, execute
    instruments, make purchases, enter into contractual relationships, and
    vote unless limited by prior court order;
    (7)  To have reasonable access to all records concerning himself.
    (b)  Notwithstanding any limitations authorized under this section on the
right of communication, every patient shall be entitled to communicate by
sealed mail with the court, if any, which ordered his commitment.
    (c)  The director of a facility may deny a patient's rights under this
section, except that the rights enumerated in subsections (a)(5) and (a)(6) of
this section, shall not be denied by the director of the facility under any
circumstances. Only in cases of emergency or when a court has determined that
a patient lacks capacity to make informed decisions about treatment, may the
director of a facility deny a patient's rights under subsection (a)(4) of this
section. A statement explaining the reasons for any denial of a patient's
rights shall be immediately entered in his treatment record and if the patient
has been committed pursuant to court order, copies of such statement shall be
submitted to the committing court and sent to the patient's spouse, guardian,
adult next of kin or friend and attorney, if any.
    (d)  A list of the foregoing rights shall be prominently posted in all
facilities and brought to the attention of the patient by such means as the
board of health and welfare shall designate.