CHAPTER 31. DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY

ABANDONED TO HOSPITALS

§2811. Disposition of property abandoned to hospitals

A. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (R.S. 9:151 et seq.) to the contrary, any property left in the possession of a hospital licensed under the provisions of this Title or owned and operated by the state or a political subdivision by any person shall be considered abandoned property for the purposes of this Section if:

(1) The owner of the property or the owner's next of kin has been notified by certified mail, return receipt requested, at the last known address, that the property is in possession of the hospital and must be claimed by the owner or the owner's next of kin as follows:

(a) Within thirty days if the owner was discharged from the hospital or died in such facility.

(b) Within one hundred thirty days if the owner is anyone other than a person who was discharged from the hospital or died in such facility.

(2) The owner of the property or the owner's next of kin takes no action within the time specified in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection from the date that the certified letter was sent.

(3) There is no last known address of the owner or the owner's next of kin.

B. A public sale of the abandoned property shall be held by the hospital during the month of January each year. Proceeds from the sale of abandoned property and any cash that has been abandoned by a former patient shall be transferred to the administrator of the hospital and placed in a special fund for the benefit of indigent patients. An accounting of this fund, including the various expenditures made from the account, shall be maintained by the administrator and be open to public inspection.

C. A licensed hospital may dispose of any soiled clothing which is considered abandoned property under the provisions of this Section.

D. "Owner", "person", and "property", for purposes of this Section, shall have the same meaning as defined in R.S. 9:153(10), (11), and (12) respectively.

Acts 1995, No. 343, §1; Acts 2001, No. 832, §1.