§ 33.14 Sealing of records pertaining to treatment for mental illness.\n (a) (1) Any person who has been admitted to receive inpatient or\noutpatient services for mental illness may commence a special proceeding\nin the supreme court for an order directing the sealing of those records\nheld by the office of mental health, a facility, or any other individual\nor public or private entity which has been made a party to the\nproceeding, which identify the petitioner as a recipient of services for\nmental illness. The court may order that the petitioner's records be\nsealed, subject to such limitations or exceptions as the court may\nimpose, upon a finding that:\n a. the petitioner was illegally detained by a facility by reason of\nfraud, error or falsified documents, and the records pertain to such\nillegal detention; or\n b. the petitioner has demonstrated by competent medical evidence that\nhe is not currently suffering from a mental illness, has not for a\nperiod of three years received inpatient services for the treatment of a\nmental illness, and the interests of the petitioner and society would\nbest be served by sealing the petitioner's records. It shall be presumed\nthat it would be in the best interests of the petitioner and society to\nseal any record of a petitioner's receipt of services for the treatment\nof mental illness prior to his sixteenth birthday.\n (2) Except for such limitations as the court may impose, a court order\ndirecting the office of mental health, a facility, or other individual\nor entity to seal records shall require the office of mental health,\nfacility or other individual or entity to respond to any official or\nunofficial inquiry concerning the petitioner's history of mental illness\nas though the admission or receipt of services documented in the sealed\nrecords had never occurred.\n (3) A petitioner who has obtained an order directing that his or her\nrecords be sealed may respond to any official or unofficial inquiry by\nany person or agency concerning the petitioner's history of mental\nillness as though the admission or receipt of services documented in the\nsealed records had never occurred.\n (b) Records sealed pursuant to this section may be unsealed and made\navailable only:\n (1) upon request of the person who is the subject of the sealed\nrecords;\n (2) by order of a court upon a demonstration by the party seeking to\nhave the records unsealed that such unsealing is essential to the\ninterests of justice;\n (3) upon the commencement of a suit by the person who is the subject\nof the sealed records or his representative in which such person's\nconfinement or treatment during confinement as documented in the sealed\nrecords is at issue; or\n (4) seventy-five years after the record has been sealed.\n
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