Section 6Part 0 —
Emergency detention order
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If a medical officer is of the opinion that a person is or may be suffering from a mental impairment or serious mental illness, the medical officer may make an order for protective custody in the prescribed form, authorising a constable to —
take the person into protective custody; and
with all reasonable despatch, but no later than twelve hours after the person is taken into protective custody, bring the person before a medical doctor employed by the Government to be examined.
The medical doctor who examines a person under subsection (1)(b)shall, after conducting the examination —
complete the prescribed form to be used in the assessment of the person; and
consult the medical officer under subsection (1).
If, after consultation with the medical doctor who examined the person under subsection (1)(b), the medical officer considers that the person should be further detained, the medical officer shall make an emergency detention order in the prescribed form, directing the detention of that person for up to seventy-two hours in a hospital or other place of safety able to receive and care for that person.
If the medical officer forms the opinion that there is no need to further detain the person, the medical officer shall not make an emergency detention order under subsection (1B) and shall order the release of that person.
If the medical officer makes an emergency detention order under subsection (1B), the medical officer shall —
in writing, as soon as practicable thereafter, inform the Mental Health Commission of the detention of the person;
supply the Mental Health Commission with a copy of the prescribed form under subsection (1A); and
otherwise comply with any regulations that may be made under this Act in that regard
A patient or the nearest relative of a patient, within twenty-four hours of an emergency detention order being made, may request a second opinion from another medical officer and if that medical officer recommends that an emergency detention order should not have been made —
the emergency detention order shall be revoked; and
the medical officer who made the emergency detention order shall —
order the release of the person in respect of whom the emergency detention order was made; and
refer the matter, together with all records, to the Mental Health Commission, which shall make such decision as it thinks fit.
A patient who is detained pursuant to an emergency detention order but who is of the opinion that there were no reasonable grounds for making the emergency detention order may, at any time after the making of the order and up to 14 days from the expiration of the order, personally or through a nearest relative, file an appeal with the Mental Health Commission and the Commission may affirm or expunge the order.
Where a patient has been detained and released under an emergency detention order three or more times in thirty days, the Mental Health Commission may, on its initiative or that of the patient personally or by a nearest relative, review the patient's files and related records and make such recommendation in relation to the care of the patient as it thinks fit.
After an emergency detention order has been made, the medical officer —
may, if the medical officer forms the opinion that there is no need to further detain the person concerned, order the release of that person; or
shall, where the medical officer forms the opinion that the person is in need of further assessment to determine whether the person needs to undergo treatment for mental impairment or a serious mental illness, make an observation order.
Where a person is under an emergency detention order, treatment may be administered to that person without that person's consent if that is in that person's best interest.