2012 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 44 - Health
Chapter 22 - RIGHTS OF MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS
Section 44-22-220 - Grievances concerning patient rights; penalties for denial of patient rights.

(A) The department shall develop a system for documenting and addressing grievances concerning patient rights. Grievances concerning patient rights must be reviewed by the department and a determination made concerning whether or not corrective action is warranted. A copy of the written grievance must be forwarded to the Client Advocacy Program and Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities.

(B) The department shall develop procedures with time lines to process the grievances in a timely manner. The procedures must be made known to patients.

(C) A person who wilfully causes, or conspires with or assists another to cause, the denial to a patient of rights accorded to the patient under this chapter, upon conviction, must be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. A person acting in good faith, either upon actual knowledge or information thought to be reliable, is immune from criminal liability under the provisions of this subsection.

HISTORY: 1991 Act No. 127, Section 1; 2008 Act No. 266, Section 6, eff June 4, 2008.