New South Wales Repealed Acts

This legislation has been repealed.

MENTAL HEALTH ACT 1990 - SECT 285

285 Court may order discharge or transfer of patient

(1) If the Court receives information on oath or the Court has reason or cause to suspect:

(a) that a person who is not a mentally ill person or a mentally disordered person is detained in a hospital, or

(b) that other care of a less restrictive kind is appropriate and reasonably available to a mentally ill person or a mentally disordered person detained in a hospital, or

(c) that a forensic patient is wrongly detained in a hospital,

the Court must order the medical superintendent to bring the person before the Court for examination at a time specified in the order.

(2) If, on examination of a person (other than a forensic patient) under this section, the medical superintendent is unable to prove on the balance of probabilities:

(a) that a person is a mentally ill person or a mentally disordered person, or

(b) if the person is a mentally ill person or a mentally disordered person, that no other care of a less restrictive kind is appropriate and reasonably available to the person,

the Court must order that the person be immediately discharged from the hospital in which the person is detained.

(3) If, on the examination of a forensic patient under this section, the medical superintendent is unable to prove that the patient is not wrongly detained in the hospital, the Court must order that the person be immediately transferred to a prison.