CHAPTER 472

An Act to amend and reenact §§ $7-125.7 and 87-125.15 as amended, of
the Code of Virginia, relating to procedure for the collection from
those liable therefor of expenses of care, treatment and maintenance
of patients in State hospitals or colonies.

[H 582]

Approved March 29, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 37-125.7 and 37-125.15 as amended, of the Code of Virginia,
be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 37-125.7. The Department shall proceed by notifying the attorney
for the Commonwealth of the county or city in which such application is
to be filed, of the facts incident to the expenses of caring for any such
patient or inmate, and shall include in such notification a statement of
the amount due for his care, treatment and maintenance in the institution
in which he is a patient. Upon receipt thereof the attorney for the Com-
monwealth shall institute proceedings on behalf of the Department for
the collection of the claim. Such proceedings shall conform to the pro-
cedure for collection of debts due the Commonwealth in so far as they are
modified by law governing proceedings for the collection of claims against
persons under disability. In the event that the attorney for the Common-
wealth has failed or refused to institute such proceedings for a period of
sixty days after receipt of such notice, the Department shall notify the
circuit court of the county or the corporation court or the hustings court
or the circuit court of the city of that fact.

§ 37-125.15. The Commissioner of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals
may prescribe statement forms which shall be completed by those persons
legally liable under § 37-125.1 for the support of the patient. Such state-
ment shall be sworn to by such person and returned to the Commissioner
within thirty days from the time such statement was mailed to such
person. Should such person fail to return such statement to the Commis-
sioner, properly completed, within thirty days, the Commissioner shall
send another statement by registered mail and if the statement, properly
completed, is not then returned within thirty days the person to whom it
was sent by registered mail shall be assessed five dollars for each week,
or part of each week, in excess of the thirty-day period that the statement
is overdue, which sum or sums shall be collected by the Department in the
same manner as other sums * due for the care, treatment and maintenance
of patients from the persons whose duty it was to complete each state-
ment, and, when collected, such sum or sums shall be paid into the
same fund into which other collections are paid under this article. The
attorney for the Commonwealth of the county or city in which the person
as assessed resides shall represent the Department in making such col-

ions.

A copy of this section shall be placed in a prominent place, in bold
face type, upon each statement form.