Section 5256.4.

(a) At the certification review hearing, the person certified shall have the following rights:

(1) Assistance by an attorney or advocate.

(2) To present evidence on his or her own behalf.

(3) To question persons presenting evidence in support of the certification decision.

(4) To make reasonable requests for the attendance of facility employees who have knowledge of, or participated in, the certification decision.

(5) If the person has received medication within 24 hours or such longer period of time as the person conducting the hearing may designate prior to the beginning of the hearing, the person conducting the hearing shall be informed of that fact and of the probable effects of the medication.

(b) The hearing shall be conducted in an impartial and informal manner in order to encourage free and open discussion by participants. The person conducting the hearing shall not be bound by rules of procedure or evidence applicable in judicial proceedings.

(c) Reasonable attempts shall be made by the mental health facility to notify family members or any other person designated by the patient, of the time and place of the certification hearing, unless the patient requests that this information not be provided. The patient shall be advised by the facility that is treating the patient that he or she has the right to request that this information not be provided.

(d) All evidence which is relevant to establishing that the person certified is or is not as a result of mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism, a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, shall be admitted at the hearing and considered by the hearing officer.

(e) Although resistance to involuntary commitment may be a product of a mental disorder, this resistance shall not, in itself, imply the presence of a mental disorder or constitute evidence that a person meets the criteria of being dangerous to self or others, or gravely disabled.

(Amended by Stats. 1986, Ch. 872, Sec. 3.)