The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
Patricia D. Jehlen
Susan C. Fargo
Jennifer L. Flanagan
Ellen Story
Kay Khan
William N. Brownsberger
Steven J. D'Amico
Mary E. Grant
Susan C. Tucker
John P. Fresolo
Barbara A. L'Italien
John W. Scibak
Robert A. Antonioni
Alice K. Wolf
Steven A. Tolman
Frank I. Smizik
Gloria L. Fox
Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.
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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 51G the following section:-
Section 51H. The department of public health and the department of mental health shall jointly promulgate and enforce regulations to ensure the provision of safe and effective care to, and to protect the dignity of, individuals with psychiatric disorders and/or behavioral issues in hospital emergency departments; such regulations shall be consistent with evidence based practices and best practices in the fields of mental health, trauma, informed care and emergency medical services, and shall be revised from time to time so as to remain current with such fields. In the promulgations of said regulations the department of public health and the department of mental health shall seek input from consumer advocate groups including but not limited to m-power, inc., disability law center, the center for public representation, the national alliance for the mentally ill of massachusetts, and the mental health legal advisors, as well as from the massachusetts hospital association, the massachusetts college of emergency physicians and the massachusetts emergency nurses association.