Chap. 536.—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 1058 of the Code of Virginia
relating to expenses of certain insane, epileptic or feeble-minded persons and
persons addicted to drugs or the intemperate use of alcohol, and to amend the
Code of Virginia by adding 5 new sections numbered 1058-a through 1058-e,
requiring reimbursement of the State for the care of such persons and
providing for the collection thereof. {S 144]

Approved April 6, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia :

1. That section ten hundred fifty-eight of the Code of Virginia be
amended and reenacted, and that the Code of Virginia be amended by
adding five new sections numbered ten hundred fifty-eight-a through ten
hundred fifty-eight-e, the amended and new sections being as follows:

Section 1058. When, to whom, and by whom expenses of insane,
epileptic and feeble-minded persons, and persons committed for drug
addiction or the intemperate use of alcohol are paid, the manner of
payment, and by whom collected——Any person who has been heretofore,
or who may be hereafter, committed or admitted to any hospital for the
insane or colony for the epileptics or the feeble-minded, and any person
admitted or committed for drug addiction or the intemperate use of
alcohol, or the estate of any such person, or the person legally liable for
the support of any such person, shall be liable for the expenses of his
care, treatment, and maintenance in such institution. Such expenses shall
not exceed the actual per capita cost of maintenance, or the sum of
forty dollars ($40.00) per month, whichever amount is the lesser, and
shall be fixed by the Department of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals, here-
inafter referred to as the Department. All funds collected by the Depart-
ment pursuant to this act shall be paid into the State treasury and
there disbursed as provided by law.

Nothing in this act, however, shall be construed to relieve the com-
mittee of any insane, epileptic or feeble-minded person, or idiot, from
paying to any hospital or colony a sum for extra comforts of persons
confined in such hospitals or colony; nor to make it unlawful for any
such committee to make voluntary gifts which the committee may deem
conducive to the happiness and comfort of such persons so confined.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to forbid any hospital or
colony to charge for the removal, care and maintenance of any non-
resident insane, feeble-minded person or idiot, who has been committed
to such hospital or colony by law, and whose committee or next friend
has contracted with such hospital or colony for the care and maintenance
of such person, nor shall it be construed to permit the admission or
retention of any non-resident in any hospital or colony to the exclusion
of a resident of the Commonwealth.
Section 1058-a. From and after the effective date of this act, the
Department shall make investigation and ascertain which of the various
patients or inmates of such institutions, or which of the parents, guard-
ians, trustees, committees, or other persons legally responsible therefor,
are financially able to pay the expenses of the care, treatment and main-
tenance, and such patient, inmate, parent, guardian, trustee, committee,
or other person legally responsible therefor, shall be notified of such
expenses and in general of the provisions of this act. The Department
may contract with any patient or inmate, or his parent, guardian, trustee,
committee, or the person legally liable for his support and maintenance,
and in arriving at the amount to be paid, the Department shall have due
regard for the financial condition and estate of the patient or inmate, his
present and future needs, and the present and future needs of his lawful
dependents, and, wherever deemed necessary to protect him, or his
dependents, may agree to accept a monthly sum for his maintenance
less than the sum of forty dollars ($40.00) per month, or the actual
per capita cost of his maintenance. All contracts made by and between the
Department and any person under legal disabilities or any person acting
in a fiduciary capacity for any such patient or inmate, providing for
the payment of the expenses of such patient or inmate in any such
institution, shall be subject to the approval of any court of record having
jurisdiction over the incompetent’s estate or for the county or city of
which he is a legal resident, or from which he was legally committed.

Section 1058-b. Upon the failure of any patient or inmate of such
institution, or of his parent, guardian, committee, trustee or other person
legally responsible for his expenses, to make payment of the same, or
enter into an agreement for such payment, and wherever it appears
from investigation that such patient or inmate, his parent, guardian,
committee, trustee, or other person legally liable for the support of such
person, has sufficient estate, or there is evidence of ability to pay such
expenses, the Department shall apply to any such court aforesaid, or in
which the person legally liable for the support of such patient resides,
for an order to compel payment of such expenses by persons liable
therefor and in the following order: first, by the patient or his estate;
and second, by the person legally liable for the support of such patient.
The Department shall collect such part or all of such expenses from
the several sources as appears proper under the circumstances and may
proceed against all of such sources.

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 Commonwealth
shall institute proceedings on behalf‘of the Department for the collection
of the claim. Such proceedings shall conform to the procedure for col-
lection 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, and, provided further, that notice of any hearing,
on such application or petition of the Department for an order to compel
payment of such expenses, shall be served on the patient or inmate, and
his committee or trustee, or upon the person legally responsible for the
support of the patient, or upon the person against whom the proceedings
are instituted, at least fifteen (15) days prior to the hearing, and in the
manner provided for the service of civil process. At such hearing the
court shall hear the allegations and proofs of the parties and shall by
order require payment of maintenance or any part thereof by the parties
liable therefor, if of sufficient ability, having due regard for the financial
condition and estate of the patient or inmate, his present and future
needs, and the present and future needs of his lawful dependents, if such
proceeding is to charge the patient or inmate with such expenses; and
if such proceeding is to charge any other person legally liable for such
expenses, the court shall have due regard for the financial condition
and estate of such person, his present and future needs, and the present
and future needs of his lawful dependents. Upon application of any
interested party and upon like notice and procedure, the court may at
any time modify such order. If the application is made by any party
other than the Department, the notice shall be served on the Commis-
sioner of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals. Any party aggrieved by such
order or by the judgment of the court, may appeal therefrom in the
manner provided by law. Any order or judgment rendered by the court
hereunder shall have the same force and effect and shall be enforceable
in the same manner and form as any judgment recovered in favor of
the Commonwealth.

Section 1058-c. This act shall not be held or construed to require
the Department to collect the expenses of the care, treatment and main-
tenance of any indigent patient or inmate from such person, or to col-
lect such expenses from any person legally liable therefor, where investi-
gation discloses that such person legally liable for the support, is without
financial means, or that such payment would work a hardship on such
person or his family. Neither shall it be the duty or obligation of the
Department to institute any proceedings provided for in this act to
effect such collection where investigation discloses that such proceedings
would be without effect, or would work a hardship on such patient or
inmate, or the person legally liable for his support.

Section 1058-d. The estate of any patient or inmate dying in said
institutions shall be liable only for such amounts as remain unpaid under
an agreement entered into by him or by and between the Department and
his trustee, committee, or person acting in a fiduciary capacity for him,
or the unsatisfied portion of any judgment rendered by a court in a pro-
ceeding had under this act.

Section 1058-e. This act shall be in force on and after January
one, nineteen hundred and forty-nine.