That depends on whether you are voluntarily or involuntarily committed.

As a voluntarily admitted patient, you will stay until the doctors think you are well enough to leave, although you can make a written request for discharge at any time. If you are under 18, your request to leave may also be made by the person who applied for the patient’s admission, by another person of equal or closer relationship, or by the Mental Hygiene Legal Service, a New York State agency that is available to represent and advocate for individuals who receive services for a mental disability. When you submit a written request to leave the hospital, you will be released within twenty-four (24) hours of your request unless the director of the psychiatric center believes that you meet the requirements for involuntary admission and therefore need to stay. In this case, the director must apply to a judge within seventy-two (72) hours for authorization to keep you.NY Ment Hyg §9.13(b).

If you are involuntarily admitted on a medical certificate, or converted to that status, you may be kept in a psychiatric center for up to sixty (60) days as long as the doctors think it is medically necessary. If you or a relative, friend or the Mental Hygiene Legal Service believe that you do not need to be hospitalized you or any of the others may apply for a court hearing on this matter. At the end of the sixty (60) days, and periodically after that, the psychiatric center director must apply to a judge for authorization to keep you against your will. You must be notified when such an application is made, and you have the right to object and to be represented by the Mental Hygiene Legal Service or your own attorney at the hearing.

If you are admitted upon certification by a director of community services, or an examining physician designated by the director of community services, you must be examined within seventy-two (72) hours by a staff psychiatrist. If the psychiatrist confirms that you meet the requirements for involuntary admission based on medical certification, you may be kept in the psychiatric center for up to sixty (60) days. The procedure for involuntary retention beyond sixty (60) days, and the patient’s right to a hearing, are the same as outlined in above.
If you are admitted as an emergency based on the claim that you have a mental illness which is likely to result in serious harm to yourself or others and for which immediate observation, care and treatment in a psychiatric center is appropriate, you must be examined within forty-eight (48) hours by a staff psychiatrist. If he or she confirms that you meet the requirements for emergency admission, you may be kept in the psychiatric center for up to fifteen (15) days. For you to be kept involuntarily beyond fifteen (15) days, you must meet the requirements for, and be converted to, an involuntary admission based on medical certification as outlined above.

More information can found on the New York State Office of Mental Health website -- Rights of Inpatients in New York State Office of Mental Health Psychiatric Centers.

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Chapter: Mental Health and Substance Abuse

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