Health & Saf. Code, § 1285 · Article 3. Regulations
Health & Saf. Code, § 1285
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) No patient shall be detained in a health facility solely for the nonpayment of a bill.
(b) For the purposes of this section, “detained” means the intentional confinement of a patient in a health facility without authorization of the patient or any other person who may be authorized to provide consent to care on behalf of the patient.
(c) Any person who is detained in a health facility solely for the nonpayment of a bill has a cause of action against the health facility for the detention, which may be brought by that person or that person’s parent, guardian, conservator, or other legal representative.
The cause of action may be brought against the health facility, proprietor, lessee or their agents, or against any person, corporation, association, or directors thereof. Any person who has been detained in a health facility, solely for the nonpayment of a bill, who has brought an action for the detention, may recover general and punitive damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees actually incurred and any other relief which the court in its discretion may allow.
(d) Violation of subdivision (a) is a misdemeanor punishable as prescribed in Section 1290.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1981, Ch. 714.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=1285.
- Text hash
- sha256 73f8b1b025bae432c6465b5680ee07407aa7b4f94d5b8a933283d67e61bd5364
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
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Health and Safety Code
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.