Iowa Code Title IV. Public Health [Chs. 123-158] § 125.83A. Placement in certain federal facilities

1. If upon completion of the commitment hearing, the court finds that the contention that the respondent is a person with a substance use disorder has been sustained by clear and convincing evidence, and the court is furnished evidence that the respondent is eligible for care and treatment in a facility operated by the United States department of veterans affairs or another agency of the United States government and that the facility is willing to receive the respondent, the court may so order. The respondent, when so placed in a facility operated by the United States department of veterans affairs or another agency of the United States government within or outside of this state, shall be subject to the rules of the United States department of veterans affairs or other agency, but shall not lose any procedural rights afforded the respondent by this chapter. The chief officer of the facility shall have, with respect to the respondent so placed, the same powers and duties as the chief medical officer of a hospital in this state would have in regard to submission of reports to the court, retention of custody, transfer, convalescent leave, or discharge. Jurisdiction is retained in the court to maintain surveillance of the respondent's treatment and care, and at any time to inquire into the respondent's condition and the need for continued care and custody.

2. Upon receipt of a certificate stating that a respondent placed under this chapter is eligible for care and treatment in a facility operated by the United States department of veterans affairs or another agency of the United States government which is willing to receive the respondent without charge to the state of Iowa or any county in the state, the chief medical officer may transfer the respondent to that facility. Upon so doing, the chief medical officer shall notify the court which ordered the respondent's placement in the same manner as would be required in the case of a transfer under section 125.86, subsection 2, and the respondent transferred shall be entitled to the same rights as the respondent would have under that subsection. No respondent shall be transferred under this section who is confined pursuant to conviction of a public offense or whose placement was ordered upon contention of incompetence to stand trial by reason of mental illness, without prior approval of the court which ordered that respondent's placement.

3. A judgment or order of commitment by a court of competent jurisdiction of another state or the District of Columbia, under which any person is hospitalized or placed in a facility operated by the United States department of veterans affairs or another agency of the United States government, shall have the same force and effect with respect to that person while the person is in this state as the judgment or order would have if the person were in the jurisdiction of the court which issued it. That court shall be deemed to have retained jurisdiction of the person so placed for the purpose of inquiring into that person's condition and the need for continued care and custody, as do courts in this state under this section. Consent is given to the application of the law of the state or district in which the court is situated which issued the judgment or order as regards authority of the chief officer of any facility, operated in this state by the United States department of veterans affairs or another agency of the United States government, to retain custody, transfer, place on convalescent leave, or discharge the person so committed.