Chap. 334.—An ACT to provide for the immediate admission, without an
order of commitment, into the State hospitals or other State institutions
for the insane, or insane persons who are in urgent need of immediate
treatment and care, or who are dangerously insane and a menace to the
public safety, and for their subsequent commitment, and to provide
for the conveyance of such patients to the hospital. (S. B. 392.)

Approved March 27, 1914.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the superintendent of any State hospital or other State institution
fur the care and treatment of the insane may, without an order of
a judge or justice of the peace (as provided in section sixteen hun-
dred and sixty-nine of the Code, Pollard, of nineteen hundred and
ten), receive into his custody and detain temporarily in such hos-
pital or other State institution for the care and treatment of the
insane, a person whose case is certified by two licensed and reputable
physicians, neither of whom is in any- manner related to or con-
nected by marriage with him or has any interest in his estate, after
careful personal examination and enquiry, to be one of acute, violent
and dangerous insanity so as to render it necessary for public
safety that he be immediately confined in a suitable place, or whose
mental condition is such that it would be for his safety and benefit
to receive immediate proper hospital care and treatment, and upon
a written petition to the superintendent of such hospital or institu-
tion made by some responsible person or persons. No person suffer-
ing from delirium tremens or drunkenness, or delirium from fever,
shall be thus received or detained.

2. The certificate of insanity executed by such physicians shall
contain adequate reasons why the said alleged insane person should
be immediately received in a State hospital or other State institu-
tion for the insane, and the said examining physicians shall fur-
thermore answer, as far as practicable, from their personal knowl-
edge and from information furnished by competent persons, the
interrogatories prescribed by law in the regular form of examina-
tion and commitment of insane persons. By virtue of such cer-
tificate of insanity and urgent need of immediate custody and
treatment and petition, such alleged insane person may be received
and retained in such State hospital or other institution for the
care and treatment of the insane, for a period not to exceed ten
- (10) days.

8. The superintendent of any such institution may refuse to
receive such alleged insane patient upon such certificate and peti-
tion, if, in his judgment, the reasons stated in the certificate are not
sufficient; or, if the mental condition of the patient is not of such
nature as to make it necessary that he should receive immediate
hospital treatment and care. If the condition of the alleged insane
person seems to the superintendent of the hospital or institution
to justify it, and upon proper and satisfactory notice by wire,
telephone or in person to such superintendent, such alleged insane
person may be forthwith conveyed to the hospital or institution by
the person applying for his admission or some other suitable per-
son, who shall deliver to the superintendent the certificate, the
petition and all other written information relating to the case;
and the expense for the conveyance of such patient to the hospital
or institution, shall be paid as provided in section sixteen hundred
and seventy-three of the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred and
four, for the conveyance of insane persons to State hospitals or
institutions.

4. The person or persons petitioning for the admission of such
alleged insane patient shall, within five (5) days after his admis-
sion, cause him to be duly committed by any judge or justice of the
peace, if, in the opinion of the superintendent of the hospital or
institution, he is insane, or cause him to be removed from the said
hospital or institution, and, failing thereof, be liable to the said
institution for all expenses incurred for maintenance and care and
transportation, and to a penalty of fifty dollars ($50.00), all of
which may be recovered by the institution on a civil warrant or
in an action of contract.

5. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.