2005 Montana Code Annotated - 53-20-129 — Emergency admission and commitment.

     53-20-129. Emergency admission and commitment. (1) A person believed to be seriously developmentally disabled may be admitted in a residential facility on an emergency basis when necessary to protect the person or others from death or serious bodily harm.
     (2) An emergency admission to a residential facility may be initiated only by a developmental disabilities professional.
     (3) An emergency admission may not proceed unless the residential facility and the department of public health and human services are given reasonable notice of the need for placement by the developmental disabilities professional responsible for emergency admission.
     (4) A petition for emergency commitment must be filed on the next judicial day after an emergency admission by the county attorney of the county where the person resides.
     (5) The residential facility screening team shall report back to the court on the seventh judicial day following the filing of the petition for emergency commitment.
     (6) Once the report of the residential facility screening team is received by the court, continued placement in the residential facility may not continue without an order of the court for emergency commitment.
     (7) A court may order an emergency commitment only when the court determines that the emergency commitment is necessary to protect the respondent or others from death or serious bodily harm.
     (8) An order for emergency commitment may be entered without a hearing before the court, if the court finds that the record supports the order.
     (9) An emergency commitment to a residential facility may not continue for longer than 30 days after placement in the residential facility unless a petition for an extended commitment to the residential facility has been filed before the court.
     (10) The residential facility screening team may recommend that the respondent under a petition for emergency commitment be committed by court order to the residential facility on an extended basis.

     History: En. 38-1216 by Sec. 16, Ch. 468, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 568, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 38-1216; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 381, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 15, Ch. 255, L. 1995.