Commentary on Sections Part 5 – Emergency Detention Sections 41 and 42: temporary suspension of emergency detention
78.Section 41(1) allows a patient’s responsible medical officer to suspend temporarily the detention requirement when a patient is subject to an emergency detention certificate. The patient is not subject to that requirement for a particular period of time specified by that officer. Where, for example, the suspension is granted to enable the patient to attend an event, subsection (2) enables the period of time to be expressed as the duration of the event. In the circumstances set out in subsection (3), the suspension may be made subject to conditions. It is only the detention requirement which is suspended and the certificate continues to run. The authority to detain will revive when the period of suspension comes to an end.
79.While a temporary suspension is in force, the responsible medical officer may revoke it if either of the conditions in section 42(2) applies. Where the responsible medical officer does revoke the suspension certificate, he must inform the parties listed at subsection (3). Included here are the relevant hospital managers who, under subsection (4), must then inform the persons mentioned in section 38(4) and (5) of the revocation.