New York hospitals approved by the Commissioner of Mental Health record emergency involuntary admissions under Mental Hygiene Law section 9.39 on OMH 474. A clinician meets it when a person is brought to the hospital with a mental illness likely to result in serious harm. A staff physician documents the admission, and a staff psychiatrist must confirm the findings for the patient to be held beyond 48 hours.
A staff physician of the admitting hospital completes Section II, the record of admission. A second physician on the hospital's psychiatric staff completes Section III, the examination confirming need for admission beyond 48 hours, including history, physical condition, mental status and differential diagnosis.
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Emergency Admission (Mental Hygiene Law §9.39)
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A physician on the hospital's psychiatric staff who is not the admitting physician. Section III asks for history, physical condition including test results, psychiatric signs and symptoms, a mental status exam, collateral information and a differential diagnosis, then the staff psychiatrist's signed confirmation.
Only one of the two. Either the initial examining physician or the confirming psychiatrist may use audio-visual telehealth. The person must be asked to consent, and if they refuse or cannot consent, the effort is documented in the record and the examination may proceed.
Up to 48 hours on the admitting physician's findings, then longer only after a staff psychiatrist confirms them. Within 15 days the patient must be discharged, agree to stay voluntarily, or be retained through the section 9.27 process with two medical examinations.