Section 29.11. Commissioner's power to transfer and discharge patients

(a)  Subject to his regulations, the commissioner may order or approve
  the transfer of a patient  from  one  facility  to  another  appropriate
  facility.
    (b)  A  voluntary or informal patient may be transferred only with his
  consent.
    (c) In the case of a voluntary patient under eighteen  years  of  age,
  transfer  may  be  made  only upon the request or consent of his parent,
  legal guardian, or next of kin unless such patient was admitted  on  his
  own application.
    (d)  No transfer shall be made to any facility other than a department
  facility without the consent of the facility to  which  the  patient  is
  transferred.
    (e) A patient transferred to a department facility pursuant to section
  67.07  of  this chapter may be detained for a period not to exceed three
  days, excluding Sunday and holidays, pursuant to the laws of the sending
  state, and then shall be formally admitted under the laws of this  state
  or discharged.
    (f)  Upon  a  determination  that  overcrowding exists in any facility
  because of the scarcity of space or the destruction of existing space or
  that the revocation or suspension of an operating  certificate  pursuant
  to  section  13.15 of this chapter requires the removal of patients, the
  commissioner shall arrange for the interim and  emergency  accommodation
  of patients.
    (g)  The  commissioner,  by  order,  may  discharge any patient in his
  judgment improperly detained in any facility.
    (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person committed to
  the custody of the commissioner of mental hygiene  pursuant  to  article
  seven  hundred  thirty  of  the  criminal procedure law, or continuously
  thereafter retained in such custody, shall be  discharged,  released  on
  condition  or  placed  in  any  less  secure  facility  or  on  any less
  restrictive status, including, but not limited to  vacations,  furloughs
  and  temporary  passes,  unless  the  commissioner shall deliver written
  notice, at least four days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays  and  holidays,
  in  advance of the change of such committed person's facility or status,
  to all of the following:
    1. the district attorney of the county  from  which  such  person  was
  committed;
    2. the superintendent of state police;
    3. the sheriff of the county where the facility is located;
    4.  the  police  department  having jurisdiction of the area where the
  facility is located;
    5. any person who may reasonably be expected to be the victim  of  any
  assault  or  any  violent  felony  offense, as defined in the penal law,
  which would be carried out by the committed person;
    6. the attorney for the committed person, where the attorney shall  so
  request; and
    7. any other person the court may designate.
    Said  notice  may  be given by any means reasonably calculated to give
  prompt actual notice. The notice required by this subdivision shall also
  be given immediately upon the departure of such  committed  person  from
  the commissioner's actual custody, without proper authorization. Nothing
  in this subdivision shall be construed to impair any other right or duty
  regarding any notice or hearing contained in any other provision of law.
    (i)  If  at  the  time  the  commissioner  orders  the  transfer of an
  involuntary patient from a hospital to a hospital operated by the state,
  there is pending a request for a hearing or a decision by a court on the
  question of need for involuntary care and  treatment,  the  commissioner

  may  either  (i)  stay  his  order  of  transfer until completion of the
  hearing, or (ii) direct the transfer to take place and the  director  of
  the  state  facility  shall  be  substituted  in  all  legal proceedings
  regarding continued retention of the patient.
    (j)  When  an  order  of  transfer  is issued by the commissioner, the
  receiving facility may retain the patient for the balance of the  period
  authorized  in  article  nine  of  this  chapter  for  the  admission or
  retention of the patient, based on the date of admission to the facility
  from which the patient was transferred.