Sec. 462.078. RETURN TO FACILITY UNDER FACILITY ADMINISTRATOR'S CERTIFICATE OR COURT ORDER. (a) The administrator of a facility to which a patient was admitted for court-ordered inpatient services may have an absent patient taken into custody, detained, and returned to the facility by:

(1) signing a certificate authorizing the patient's return; or

(2) filing the certificate with a magistrate and requesting the magistrate to order the patient's return.

(b) A magistrate may issue an order directing a peace or health officer to take a patient into custody and return the patient to the facility if the facility administrator files the certificate as prescribed by this section. The facility head may sign or file the certificate if the facility head reasonably believes that:

(1) the patient is absent without authority from the facility;

(2) the patient has violated the conditions of a pass or furlough; or

(3) the patient's condition has deteriorated to the extent that the patient's continued absence from the facility under a pass or furlough is inappropriate.

(c) A peace or health officer shall take the patient into custody and return the patient to the facility as soon as possible if the patient's return is authorized by the facility administrator's certificate or the court order. The peace or health officer may take the patient into custody without having the certificate or court order in the officer's possession.

Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 175, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.