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→3. Through Court Proceedings
Under s 33 of the MHA a request can be made to the Supreme Court for an order prohibiting admission or directing the discharge of an individual. This request may be made by a person or patient whose application for admission to a mental health facility is made under s 20(1)(a)(ii) or s 22, a near relative of a person or patient or anyone who believes that there is not sufficient reason for the admission or detention of an individual.
== J.Escapes From Involuntary Detention == === 1.Apprehension Without a Warrant === A patient, detained involuntarily in a mental health facility who leaves the facility without authorization is, within 48 hours of escape, liable to apprehension, notwithstanding that there has been no warrant issued (s 41). === 2.Warrant Constituting Authority for Apprehension === Where a person involuntarily detained has been absent from a mental health facility without authorization, the director of the facility may within 60 days issue a warrant for apprehension, which serves as authority for apprehension and conveyance back to the facility (s 41(1)). === 3.Patient Considered Discharged After 60 Days === A patient is deemed to have been discharged if he or she has been absent for over 60 days without a warrant being issued (s 41(3)). However, if the patient is “charged with an offence or liable to imprisonment or considered by the director to be dangerous to him or herself or others,” the person is not deemed discharged and a warrant may still be issued. === 4.Aiding Escapees === Under the MHA, s 17 any person who helps an individual leave or attempt to leave a mental health facility without proper authority, or who does or omits to do any act that assists a person in so leaving or attempting to leave, or who incites or counsels a patient to leave without proper authority, commits an offence under theOffence the ''Offence Act'', RSBC 1996, c 338.