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Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5325.4 · Article 7. Legal and Civil Rights of Persons Involuntarily Detained

Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5325.4

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) If a person is involuntarily detained for assessment, evaluation, or treatment under this part, the facility to which the person is brought shall offer and provide a copy of the State Department of Health Care Services’ prepared patients’ rights handbook to a family member of the detained person under any of the following circumstances:

(1) The person authorizes the disclosure of their detainment information pursuant to Section 5328.1.

(2) The family member is physically present at the facility where the person is involuntarily detained and has knowledge that the individual is involuntarily detained there.

(3) The family member has been notified of the person’s presence in the facility pursuant to Section 5328.1.

(4) The person has consented to the family member being provided the handbook.

(b) (1) The handbook may be provided to a family member in a printed or digital copy.

(2) The facility may also provide a referral to the Patients’ Rights Advocacy Directory internet website or another local, state, or national organization with related expertise.

(c) If the handbook is provided to a family member pursuant to subdivision (a), then the facility where the person is involuntarily detained for assessment shall also offer and provide a printed or digital copy of the handbook to the person.

(d) For purposes of this section, “family member” means any of the following:

(1) The spouse or domestic partner of the person.

(2) An adult child of the person.

(3) A parent or legal guardian of the person.

(4) A grandparent of the person.

(5) An adult sibling of the person.

(6) An adult grandchild of the person.

(7) An adult relative or close personal friend who has demonstrated special care and concern for the person and is familiar with the person’s personal values and beliefs to the extent known.

(e) This section does not authorize the disclosure of patient information that is protected under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (Public Law 104-191), the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 56) of Division 1 of the Civil Code), or the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (Part 1 (commencing with Section 5000)).

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 2024, Ch. 635, Sec. 1. (AB 2154) Effective January 1, 2025.

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=WIC&sectionNum=5325.4.
Text hash
sha256 43b7dc74d8bffcde1bb468c07e43ddc73eabbab4848ccad83b7b815cf6e45f0a
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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

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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.