30:6D-5.17 Power to take individual into protective custody.

13. a. A physician examining or treating an individual with a developmental disability residing in a community care residence or the chief executive officer, or his designee, of a hospital or similar institution to which the individual has been brought for care or treatment, or both, is empowered to take the individual into protective custody when the individual has suffered serious physical injury or injuries, or the individual's condition constitutes a life-threatening emergency, as defined in section 2 of P.L.2003, c.191 (C.30:6D-5.2), and the most probable inference from the medical and factual information supplied is that the injury or condition was inflicted upon the individual by another person by other than accidental means, and the person suspected of inflicting, or permitting to be inflicted, the injury upon the individual is a licensee or alternate of a community care residence where the individual resides and to whom the individual would normally be returned.

b. The physician or the chief executive officer, or his designee, of a hospital or similar institution taking an individual with a disability into protective custody shall immediately report the action and the condition of the individual with a developmental disability to the department by calling its emergency telephone service.

c. A physician or chief executive officer, or his designee, who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be subject to a penalty of $500. The penalty shall be sued for and collected in a summary proceeding by the commissioner pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).

L.2012, c.69, s.13.