1690

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 603

am not related by blood or marriage to the patient, nor do
I have any financial interest in the facility in which it
is proposed to place the patient. I further certify that
this certificate is signed and made within one week of the
examination of the patient.

Signed: .................... Date:

(3) No certificate shall be executed by any physician
OR CERTIFIED PSYCHOLOGIST financially interested, by reason
of ownership or salary, in any private facility in which it
is proposed to admit the person whose status is being
certified, nor may such physician OR PSYCHOLOGIST be related
by blood or marriage to either the prospective patient or
the applicant.

22.

(a)    (4) "Mental disorder" means the behavioral and
other symptoms which to A lay petitioner initiating the
emergency admission process indicate a clear disturbance in
the mental functioning of another person, and to a physician
OR CERTIFIED PSYCHOLOGIST conducting an examination indicate
one or more of the mental disorders described in the
"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual—Mental Disorders"
published periodically by the American Psychiatric
Association. The term shall not include mental retardation.

(b)    (2) The petition shall include the following:

(iv) Notice that any petitioner completing
and signing the petition may be required to accompany the
emergency admittee to a physician OR CERTIFIED PSYCHOLOGIST
and that the State Department of Mental Hygiene may require
the appearance of the petitioner at the mental health
facility to which the emergency admittee is admitted within
96 hours in order to provide further information, and that
failure to comply shall subject the petitioner to court
order compelling his appearance.

(c)    If the petitioner is anyone other than a peace
officer of the rank of sergeant or higher, a duly licensed
physician, OS A CERTIFIED PSYCHOLOGIST, or the local health
officer, as described by Sections 46 and 47 of Article 43,
or his designee, then the petition accompanied by the
petitioner shall be presented to a judge of the District
Court or of the circuit court for an immediate review and
determination by the judge as to whether there is probable
cause to believe that the emergency admittee has the
symptoms of a mental disorder and appears to be in clear and
imminent danger or causing grave and immediate personal harm
to himself or others. If the judge finds probable cause for
emergency admission he shall endorse the petition by signing
it, and the emergency admittee shall be taken into custody
by a peace officer and transported to an emergency facility
where the emergency admittee may be detained for a period of
96 hours beginning from the time he was taken into custody.