WEST virginia
legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.
A BILL to amend and
reenact §27-2-3
of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to requiring a person restraining a mentally ill or mentally
challenged person in a "four-point restraint" to administer sedation
by injection at the time the patient is secured in the "four-point
restraint"; providing guidelines for handling the patient after initial
restraint and sedation; and establishing a criminal penalty for failure to
sedate by injection upon use of the "four-point restraint."
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §27-2-3 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. MENTAL HEALTH
FACILITIES.
§27-2-3.
Rules as to patients.
The director of health
shall implement rules and regulations as promulgated by the board of health in
regard to the admission of patients to mental health facilities, the care,
maintenance and treatment of inpatients, residents and outpatients of such
facilities and the release, trial visit and discharge of patients therefrom.
No patient under eighteen years of
age in any state hospital shall be housed in any area also occupied by any patient
over eighteen years of age. Any patient adjudged by the chief medical officer
to have a likelihood of seriously harming others shall be confined in a secure
area of a health facility.
Notwithstanding any provision in
this chapter to the contrary, the restraint technique known as the "four-point
restraint," whereby a patient's arms and legs are strapped down on a bed,
may not be used to restrain a patient unless the procedure is coupled with an
injection to sedate the patient at the time the patient is secured in the
"four-point restraint." After the initial four-point restraint and
sedation by injection, the following guidelines should be adhered to in
handling the patient:
(1) Once a patient awakens, the
restraint should be undone;
(2) After initial restraint, the
doctor should prescribe the maintenance dose to cover highs and lows without
need for further restraint;
(3) Instead of a second injection,
the patient should be placed in a safe seclusion room;
(4) Safe seclusion by itself or
with an injection should be the first alternative, and the least restrictive;
and
(5) Hospitals or facilities
licensed to treat the mentally ill or mentally challenged in this state should
have a seclusion room or rooms with padded walls and padded floors, and no beds
or furniture except for approved mattresses.
Any person using the "four-point
restraint" technique on a patient who fails to provide sedation by
injection upon securing the patient in the "four-point restraint" is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $5,000.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to require a person restraining a mentally ill or mentally challenged person in
a "four-point restraint" to administer sedation by injection at the
time the patient is secured in the "four-point restraint". The bill
provides guidelines for handling the patient after initial restraint and
sedation and establishes a penalty for failure to sedate by injection upon use
of the "four-point restraint." The bill establishes a criminal
penalty.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.