South Carolina Code of Laws
Chapter 22 - Rights Of Mental Health Patients
Section 44-22-140. Authorization of, and responsibility for, treatment and medication; guidelines for medication; rights with respect to refusal of treatment.

(A) The attending physician, the physician on call, or the authorized health care provider, is responsible for and shall authorize medications and treatment given or administered to a patient. The physician's or authorized health care provider's authorization and the medical reasons for it must be entered into the patient's clinical record. The authorization is not valid for more than ninety days. Medication must not be used as punishment, for the convenience of staff, or as a substitute to or in quantities that interfere with the patient's treatment program. The patient or his legal guardian may refuse treatment not recognized as standard psychiatric treatment. He may refuse electro-convulsive therapy, aversive reinforcement conditioning, or other unusual or hazardous treatment procedures. If the attending physician or the physician on call decides electro-convulsive therapy is necessary and a statement of the reasons for electro-convulsive therapy is entered in the treatment record of a patient who is considered unable to consent pursuant to Section 44-22-10, permission for the treatment may be given in writing by the persons in order of priority specified in Section 44-22-40(A)(1-10).
(B) Competent patients may not receive treatment or medication in the absence of their express and informed consent in writing except treatment:
(1) during an emergency situation if the treatment is pursuant to or documented contemporaneously by written order of a physician or authorized health care provider; or
(2) as permitted under applicable law for a person committed by a court to a treatment program or facility.
HISTORY: 1991 Act No. 127, Section 1; 2015 Act No. 32 (S.474), Section 3, eff June 1, 2015; 2022 Act No. 192 (H.4600), Section 2, eff May 16, 2022.
Effect of Amendment
2022 Act No. 192, Section 2, in (A), substituted "electro-convulsive" for "electroconvulsive" in three places, and in the seventh sentence, substituted "Section 44-22-10" for "Section 44-22-10(13)" and "Section 44-22-40(A)(1-10)" for "Section 44-22-40(A)(1-8)".

Structure South Carolina Code of Laws