The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 18: Health

Chapter 183: Care and Treatment

• § 7701. Notice of rights

  The head of a hospital shall provide reasonable means and arrangements, including the posting of excerpts from relevant statutes, for informing patients of their right to discharge and other rights and for assisting them in making and presenting requests for discharge or for application to have the patient’s status changed from involuntary to voluntary. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968; amended 2021, No. 30, § 2.)

• § 7702. Repealed. 1977, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 36.

• § 7703. Treatment

  (a) Outpatient treatment or partial hospitalization shall be preferred to inpatient treatment. Emergency involuntary treatment shall be undertaken only when clearly necessary. Involuntary treatment shall be utilized only if voluntary treatment is not possible.

  (b) The Department shall establish minimum standards for adequate treatment as provided in this section, including requirements that, when possible, psychiatric unit staff be used as the primary source to implement emergency involuntary procedures such as seclusion and restraint. The Department shall oversee and collect information and report on data regarding the use of emergency involuntary procedures for patients admitted to a psychiatric unit regardless of whether the patient is under the care and custody of the Commissioner. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968; amended 1977, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 2011, No. 79 (Adj. Sess.), § 25, eff. April 4, 2012; 2021, No. 30, § 3.)

• § 7704. Mechanical restraints

  Mechanical restraints shall not be applied to a patient unless it is determined by the head of the hospital or the head of the hospital’s designee to be required by the medical needs of the patient or the hospital. Every use of a mechanical restraint and the reasons for the use of the mechanical restraint shall be made a part of the clinical record of the patient under the signature of the head of the hospital or the head of the hospital’s designee. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968; amended 2023, No. 6, § 205, eff. July 1, 2023.)

• § 7705. Communication and visitation

  (a) Subject to the general rules and regulations of the hospital and except to the extent that the head of the hospital determines that it is necessary for the medical welfare or needs of the patient or the hospital to impose restrictions, every patient is entitled:

  (1) to communicate by sealed mail or otherwise with persons, including official agencies, inside or outside the hospital;

  (2) to receive visitors and to make and receive telephone calls; and

  (3) to exercise all civil rights, including the right to dispose of property, execute instruments, make purchases, enter contractual relationships, and vote on his or her own initiative, unless he or she has been adjudicated incompetent and has not been restored to legal capacity.

  (b) Notwithstanding any limitations or restrictions authorized by this section on the right of communication, every patient is entitled to communicate by sealed mail with the Board, the Commissioner, his or her attorney, his or her clergyman, and the District judge, if any, who ordered his or her hospitalization. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968.)

• § 7706. Legal competence

  No determination that a person requires treatment and no order of the court authorizing hospitalization or alternative treatment shall lead to a presumption of legal incompetence for matters other than treatment. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968; amended 1977, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 10.)

• § 7707. Record of restrictions

  Any limitation imposed by the head of a hospital on the exercise of civil rights by a patient and the reasons for the limitation shall be made a part of the clinical record of the patient. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968.)

• § 7708. Surgical operations

  If the superintendent finds that a patient supported by the State requires a surgical operation or that a surgical operation would promote the possibility of his or her discharge from the hospital, the superintendent, with the consent of the patient, his or her attorney, his or her legally appointed guardian, if any, or next of kin, if any be known, may make the necessary arrangements with some surgeon and hospital for the operation. The expense of the operation shall be borne by the State in the same proportion as the patient is supported by the State. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968.)

• § 7709. Change from involuntary to voluntary

  At any time, a patient may, with the permission of the head of the hospital, have his or her status changed from involuntary to voluntary upon making application as provided in section 7503 of this title. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968; amended 1977, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 11.)

• § 7710. Visits by clergy or attorney

  A patient’s clergy or an attorney at law retained by or on behalf of any patient or appointed for him or her by any court shall be admitted to visit at all reasonable times. (Added 1967, No. 305 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1968.)

• § 7711. Repealed. 1977, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 36.