49.723 County infirmaries, admissions; standards.

(1) The following standards shall apply to admissions to a county infirmary:

(a) The primary standard shall be need of infirmary care, rather than ability to pay for care, and no person shall be excluded from an infirmary solely because of ability or inability to pay for care.

(b) The person admitted must be an aged infirm individual, and it must be reasonably apparent that unless admitted the person will be without adequate care.

(cm) Except as provided in par. (d), any person who meets the standards for admission is eligible for admission.

(d) An applicant who has removed residence to Wisconsin from a state which requires that one who has removed residence from Wisconsin to that state reside in the latter more than one year before being eligible for a similar type of care shall be required to reside in this state for a like period before becoming eligible for admission.

(2) The board of trustees of a county infirmary, subject to regulations approved by the county board, shall establish rules and regulations governing the admission and discharge of voluntary patients.

(3) If it appears to the satisfaction of the circuit court for the county in which an infirmary is located, upon petition for commitment, that a person meets the standards under sub. (1), it may, after affording the person an opportunity to be heard in person or by someone on his or her behalf, commit the person to a county infirmary. The power to commit includes persons who entered an infirmary voluntarily. The court may also, on petition and after a hearing, order the discharge of any patient, upon a showing that the patient is no longer in need of infirmary care, or that the patient can be adequately cared for elsewhere.

(4) The board of trustees on receipt of an application for voluntary admission, or the circuit court on the filing of a petition for commitment, shall appoint a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery in this state to examine personally the applicant or the subject of the petition and to advise the board or court whether such person meets the standard prescribed by sub. (1) (a).

(5) The department shall prescribe and prepare the forms to be used for the voluntary admission or commitment of patients.

(6) The circuit court in the case of a commitment, and the board of trustees in the case of a voluntary admission, shall pass on the economic status of the patient at the time of commitment or admission, and in all cases in which the patient has residence in another county shall notify the county of residence of the fact of such commitment or admission.

History: 1977 c. 449 ss. 130, 497; 1985 a. 29; 1989 a. 359; 1995 a. 27 s. 2835; Stats. 1995 s. 49.723; 1995 a. 225.