What the Form 42 is for
Section 38.1 of the Mental Health Act requires the attending physician of a person held on an application for psychiatric assessment, or on a Minister’s order under section 32, to promptly give that person written notice. The Form 42 is that notice. It tells the person who examined them, the grounds that physician certified, that they can be held for up to 72 hours, and that they can retain a lawyer without delay.
The Form 42 is often confused with the Form 30, which is the notice that follows a Form 3 certificate.
Who completes it
The attending physician at the psychiatric facility completes, signs and delivers it. The person it’s addressed to doesn’t complete any part. The examining physician who signed the Form 1 normally isn’t involved, though the facility will need their name and the date of their examination.
How to fill in the notice
Part I: application for psychiatric assessment
Complete Part I when the person is held on a Form 1. Enter the person’s name and home address, the name of the physician who signed the Form 1, and the date of that physician’s examination. Copy these from the Form 1 so the two documents agree.
Part A and Part B
Part A and Part B mirror Box A and Box B of the Form 1, and at least one must be completed. Check the same grounds the examining physician checked. Part A covers the serious harm grounds. Part B covers a previously treated person who is now incapable of consenting and whose substitute decision-maker has consented. Checking grounds that don’t appear on the Form 1 makes the notice inaccurate.
Part II: order under section 32
Complete Part II only when the person is held on an order from the Minister of Health under section 32. Enter the Minister’s name, the grounds checked in the order, and the date of the order.
Signature and date
Sign and date the part you used. Then record the date and time you delivered the Form 42 on the Form 1, in the section for use at the psychiatric facility.
Common reasons it’s found defective
- Not delivered promptly once detention began.
- Grounds that don’t match the Form 1 or the section 32 order.
- Both Part I and Part II completed, or the wrong part used.
- Delivery time not recorded on the Form 1.
- Unsigned or undated.
Submitting and who pays
The notice is handed to the person, and a copy stays in the hospital record with the Form 1. Nothing goes to the ministry. The Schedule of Benefits’ Mental Health Act services are K620, K623, K624 and K629, and none is for the Form 42 on its own.